The Tre Archi bridge is one of the major bridges in Venice,
together with the Guglie bridge and after the four bridges over the
Grand Canal (Rialto, Scalzi, Accademia and the Constitution bridge).
It is located in the Cannaregio district.
The Tre Archi bridge
crosses the Cannaregio Canal approximately halfway along its length
and is characterized by a structure with three arches, two lateral
ones of small dimensions and a central one of large dimensions.
Remaining the only example of a Venetian bridge with three arches,
it has lost its original name of San Giobbe bridge. In the past there
certainly existed other Venetian bridges of this type: for example, in
the 15th century the San Lorenzo bridge in the Castello district also
had three arches, as documented in Gentile Bellini's painting Miracle
of the Cross Falling into the San Lorenzo Canal exhibited at the
Galleries of the Academy.
Also in the past, the bridge, like
all Venetian bridges, lacked protective shoulders and was equipped
with much longer and lower steps, characteristics which gave it a
particular elegance as documented by the prints of the period.
It was restored in the late seventies of the twentieth century.