The name is an invention of Romantic literature; legend says that from this bridge one could hear the sighs of the condemned as they were being led to prison.
The Bridge of Sighs, that houses two overlapping corridors, was built at the beginning of the 17th century form a design by Antonio Contin and used to serve as a link between the Old Prisons, in the Doge's Palace, and the New Prisons, situated beyond the Palazzo River.
Its arched profile, suspended over the water of the Palazzo Rio, composes one of the most famous scenes of the city.
