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Hidden corners

The distansiador of Calle Toscana

Campo Rialto Novo seen from Calle del Gambaro: the short Calle dei Preti leading to the distansiador starts here (context photo — the monolith is to be photographed on site)
Campo Rialto Novo seen from Calle del Gambaro: the short Calle dei Preti leading to the distansiador starts here (context photo — the monolith is to be photographed on site) Photo: Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

It looks like a simple corbel, but the block of white Istrian stone suspended above Calle Toscana has a precise function and a name all of its own: el distansiador, the spacer. It is a monolith that ties one side of the calle (lane) to the other and marked out, literally, how close two facing buildings could come.

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