Calle de la Pietà crosses the contrada dei Birri, just north of San Canciano, as far as the rio (a small canal) of the same name and the ponte drio la Pietà. The name comes neither from a church nor from a capitello (a small votive shrine): according to Tassini it derives from houses owned by the Ospizio della Pietà, the great Venetian institution for foundlings, which held sixteen income-producing properties here.