744 deborah howard
city, published in 1500, are still easily recognizable (Fig. 20.1). Despite the
19th-century attempts at modernization by filling in canals and creating
new streets, the urban layout is largely unchanged.4
Over centuries of land reclamation, Venice gradually acquired the
shape of a fish—perhaps, more specifically, a dolphin—with its gaping
jaw towards the west and tail fins spreading out beyond the Arsenal ship-
yards in the east.5 Through its body, the Grand Canal traced an inverted
“S” like a giant alimentary canal. Before the mid-19th century, only the
Rialto Bridge and a series of 13 traghetti or gondola ferries straddled the
Grand Canal, and the street plans evolved in response to these crossing
points. In the oldest settlements, the city developed a dense, labyrinthine
4 On the 19th-century alterations to the urban plan, see Giandomenico Romanelli,
Venezia Ottocento: Materiali per una storia architettonica e urbanistica della città nel secolo
XIX (Rome, 1977).
5 Deborah Howard, “Venice as a Dolphin: Further Investigations into Jacopo de’
Barbari’s View,” Artibus et historiae 35 (1997), 101–12.
Figure 20.1. Jacopo de’ Barbari, bird’s-eye view map of Venice, woodcut on six
sheets, 1350 × 2820 mm., detail of Grand Canal (Venice, 1500).