At the entrance to the Giardini Pubblici (public gardens), where the Castello shore begins to look out over the open lagoon, this bridge crosses the rio di San Giuseppe (a rio is a small Venetian canal) — the rio de Sant’Isepo, from the Venetian name of the church facing it. It is a crossing you make almost without noticing, but just raise your eyes beyond the parapet to see one of the strangest things in Venice: a Roman column with a Victory on top, ringed by bronze rostra — which is neither Roman, nor Venetian, nor even born here: it was erected at Pula by the Austrians and reached the lagoon as war booty.