The Venice Pontoon Bridge Edition

On boats, planks, marathons and plagues.

The Venice Pontoon Bridge Edition

Mark Slavonia (MJS) is an investor, a pilot, and an avid cyclist. He’s written plenty of WITIs, most recently about noon sundials, artificial water ski lakes, and Paternoster elevators. He posts other things that are interesting on his website. 

Mark here. If you’ve visited Venice, you probably learned that the Grand Canal is crossed by four bridges. There’s the modern Calatrava Bridge, the Scalzi Bridge near the train station, the famous Rialto Bridge, and the wooden Accademia. But if you cruise down the Grand Canal on November 21st, you may be surprised to count a fifth bridge. It has appeared almost every year on that date for almost 400 years. Then, after a day or two, it will disappear.

Why is this interesting?

In 1630 Venice was struck by a plague. Thousands died. After a year of tragedy, the disease began to abate, and on November 21, 1631 the city declared the end of it. In gratitude and celebration, the people of Venice erected the Church of Santa Maria della Salute (“Salute”, meaning health) and declared that a procession would visit the church each year on November 21. To accommodate the procession a pontoon bridge must be erected across the Grand Canal, a few hundred meters east of the Accademia Bridge.

The Salute Bridge was constructed in early years by laying planks across boats, as shown in this 1740 painting by Johann Richter.

Things hadn’t changed much by 1900.

The modern bridge seems a bit sturdier, erected by the Italian firm Ingemar Maritime Engineering. It arcs gently across the canal to allow space for boat traffic to pass below. The pontoons are barges that are affixed to pilings driven into the canal bottom to create a stable platform for the bridge. 

The Ponte della Salute isn’t the only temporary bridge erected annually in Venice. The Redentore Bridge is floated in late July to cross to Guidecca, south of the city, allowing for a procession that celebrates the end of a different plague, that of 1575-1577. The Redentore is a longer, lower span that does not cross the Grand Canal.

The Procession of the Redeemer, by Joseph Heintz the Younger

A more recent tradition is the Venice Marathon, held every October since 1986. For the race, a pontoon bridge is assembled across the Grand Canal near the path of the Salute Bridge. This year’s edition of the Wizz Air Venice Marathon will take place on October 27, 2021 and, as of this writing, registration is still open.