Rialto Market

This guide to the Rialto Market in Venice follows the strict rules that governed who could sell fish here, enforced since 1227 by an office called the Giustizia Vecchia. It traces the market's move away from the banking quarter in 1459 and the fire that destroyed its earlier buildings before the current neo-gothic hall went up in 1907. You'll hear about the artists who decorated it and the centuries of inspectors who policed every stall. Listen at dawn, when the counters are still wet with ice.