Sotoportego

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Sotopòrtego under the casino, in the background the Campo San Barnaba

A Sotoportego or Sotopòrtego (Pl .: Sotoportegui) is a footpath in Venice that goes under a building, sometimes just under an arch. This form of passage or underpass originates from the time of the Republic of Venice and only exists with this name in this city.

Names

The Sotoportego is so named because it leads under (Italian: soto or sotto ) the portego , the hall on the first floor of a building.

Ponte Widmann (Widmann Bridge) and Sotoportego Widmann, named after the writer Josef Viktor Widmann

Many of these passages are literally called Sotoportego with a corresponding closer designation, which often names places, saints, job titles or goods. Most, however, do not use the word specifically in their name. The Calle del Paradiso , which meets the Grand Canal in the Sestiere San Polo from the west bank , is a long underpass. A nearby passage , called Sotoportego , is also at San Silvestro.

Designs

Rio and Sotoportego Trapolin
Sotopòrtego, which follows a canal (Rio) and forms a kind of loggia

The most common type of Sotoportego connects two alleys or opens up a courtyard. Another type that is similar to other types of building underpasses takes the form of a loggia , for example on Calle del Malvasia across the Rio dei Santi Apostoli in Cannaregio . It also serves as rain protection when loading and unloading boats. The third common type is used for the simple connection, often of a square (Campo), to a waterway (Rio). Other Sotoportegui only lead under arches like the Calle Gambara west of the Ponte dell'Accademia .

Often one reason for the construction of a sotoportego was the relocation of a path, so that a ground floor had to be completely or partially sacrificed, usually on the instructions of the competent authorities of the Republic of Venice . In other places an already existing path through a house or a bridge was built over. The sotoportego is often the only way to access a square or yard.

In many cases, figures of saints decorate the corridors, often on pedestals, protected by roofs or glass boxes.

Venice has hundreds of such underpasses. The number of these alleys is particularly high in the Santa Croce sestiere , such as on the Corte dell'Anatomia, which leads to Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio , on the Campo itself (Calle del Tentor), then on Calle Zambelli and on the Corte Oscura.

literature

  • Giuseppe Boerio : Dizionario del dialetto veneziano , 2nd edition, Venice 1856, p. 679.

See also

Web links

Commons : Sotoportego  - collection of images, videos and audio files