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Holiday lights in Venice will not be limited to calli (streets) and campi (squares) this year. The lagoon city has decided to anticipate celebrations for the 1600 years since its foundation (621-2021) with a lights projection show on one of its most famous monuments, a true Venice landmark, the Rialto bridge. 

Until December 31, 2020, as part of the ‘Natale di Luce’ event, the Ponte di Rialto turns into a ‘virtual book,’ displaying, through light and video mapping projections, the most significant ‘pages’ of Venice’s history, its seminal moments, artists, people and traditions. 

The Istrian stone that makes up the bridge lights up every day, with four-minute projections that are repeated several times throughout the evening. 

Animations that refer to the history of Venice alternate with ‘sparkling’ transitions and fade-outs that recall the iconic Veneto’s bubbles, that is, Prosecco.

Some of the figures reproduced include Antonio da Ponte, the architect who rebuilt the Rialto bridge in stone the 16th century after the original wooden structure kept collapsing; and Canaletto, considered one of the most important Venetian painters of the 18th century.

A show of lights that aims to be symbolic as well, to convey a message of hope.

The Ponte di Rialto is the oldest of the four bridges crossing the Grand Canal and connects the sestieri (neighborhoods) of San Marco and San Polo. It was rebuilt several times since it was first erected in 1173.