A stone’s throw from the Bridge of Sighs, a narrow calle (street) descends from the Riva degli Schiavoni towards San Provolo: it is the Calle delle Rasse, and its name is a piece of medieval geography — the rassa, or rascia, was the ordinary woollen cloth imported from the kingdom of Rascia, ancient Serbia, and here it was sold to cover the felzi, the black cabins of the gondolas.