Ponte di Rialto

This guide to the Ponte di Rialto in Venice starts with the wooden bridge that stood here before, and the 1587 competition the Senate opened to replace it once and for all, drawing entries from Palladio, Sansovino and reportedly even Michelangelo. It follows why the Senate passed over every famous name for a local builder named Antonio da Ponte, whose surname literally meant of the bridge, and the single unsupported stone arch he proposed against every rival's advice. Look up at the two sloped ramps as you cross, once lined with two dozen stalls of goldsmiths and jewelers.