The Ponte dei Pugni or Bridge of Fists is a bridge in Venice, located in the Dorsoduro district, near Campo San Barnaba.
An ancient tradition of Venice that has been abandoned for centuries
is eponymous of this bridge: the War of the Fists. The inhabitants of
two opposing factions, the Castellani of San Pietro di Castello and the
Nicolotti of San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, clashed in "fists" on the upper
part of the bridge. From September to Christmas, the Castellanis and the
Nicolottis fought each other on the bridges of the city, at the time
almost all without railings on the sides, first the champions in duels,
then in brawls. However, it must be specified that the division between
the two factions has very ancient origins and is perhaps due to the
outbreak of conflicts between the population of Jesolo and that of
Eraclea. When the people who inhabited those lands moved to the city,
they went to form two separate communities: the Castellani inhabited the
districts of Castello, San Marco and Dorsoduro, while the Nicolotti
inhabited those of San Polo, Santa Croce and Cannaregio. These factions
also assumed different uses: that of the Castellanis wore red caps and
scarves, which contrasted with the black of the Nicolottis; also the
women of the Castellanis wore flowers on their chests on one side, those
of the Nicolottis on the other. This rivalry was not at least initially
opposed by the institutions. The aim of the "game" was to throw the
opponents into the stream below. The team that managed to keep its men
on deck won.
Before a confrontation between the two factions took
place, it was announced, the bridge was defined on which it should take
place and the field of development of the confrontation was arranged. In
fact, although less famous, there is another bridge of the same name at
Campo di Santa Fosca in the Cannaregio district, also with footprints in
Istrian stone. In addition, several other bridges had been used as a
battlefield in the wars of fists: one of these, near the church of San
Zulian, was called Ponte della Guerra. The bridge could be reinforced,
and the canal below was cleared (so that if you fell off the bridge,
damage to people or things would be avoided). On the day of the battle,
the contenders (up to three hundred on each side) lined up at the ends
of the bridge: the line up was accompanied by music and the arrival of
crowds of onlookers, who looked out the windows or watched from boats.
The kind of armaments with which to present oneself was regulated:
armor, helmets, shields, canes, sticks could be worn, but sometimes one
chose to fight with bare hands, without weapons or protections.
The actual clash was preceded by an individual challenge (also called
Exhibition), which involved the champions of the two teams, each of whom
placed their feet on two of the footprints on the surface of the
pavement. Soon, the other contenders also took over the fight. The front
that had managed to defeat the opposing one could have placed its
insignia on the bridge: logically, it was not perpetual and this allowed
that, by claiming ownership of the other side, a new battle could take
place. Often the public also got involved in the clashes. Since the
clashes could often last for several hours, the gendarmerie intervened
at nightfall to stop them.
From 1574, attempts were made to
contain this phenomenon by banning weapons from conflicts. In 1705
clashes were forbidden after that very year there was one of the
bloodiest clashes, in which from fists alone they passed to knives. The
penalty for starting a fight on a bridge was five or more years' work on
a galley or seven years' imprisonment.
To give people other
chances to let off steam, another game called delle Forze d'Ercole was
set up: the tallest human pyramid, built during the Venice Carnival in
Piazza San Marco, was rewarded by the Doge himself. The bridge was
rebuilt around 1870: the iron railings were added only then.
However, this was not a custom of Venice alone; for example in 1417
Guido da Montefeltro Count of Urbino organized great celebrations in
Gubbio, including a great fight of fists, in honor of Carlo dei
Malatesti, after he had rescued him from the imprisonment in which
Braccio da Montone held him.
This bridge, not at all important from an artistic point of view, has four footprints in Istrian stone on the four corners of the pavement at the top.