Ponte delle Tette, Brick footbridge in San Polo, Venice, Italy

The Ponte delle Tette is a small brick footbridge over the Rio di San Canciano, on the border of San Polo and Santa Croce in the parish of San Cassiano. Its broad rounded arch has a light grey stone band along the lower rim and a pale stone block at the crown; the low parapets are capped with thin stone, and plants grow from the brickwork on the right of the arch face.

The government decided in 1412 to control prostitution and assigned the Carampane di Rialto neighborhood as the zone for it. This bridge became the center of the area, where authorities in the 16th century even installed lanterns and paid women to remain visible here.

The name comes from the breasts prostitutes displayed from windows and balconies near the bridge, a practice the Serenissima imposed to divert men from homosexuality. In 1984 a song titled "Al ponte de le tette" by Italo Salizzato and Emilio De Sanzuane was presented at the Teatro Malibran.

The bridge sits away from the main routes between Rialto and the train station in a quiet area with little foot traffic. Visitors reach it easily from Campo San Cassiano through narrow alleys typical of this part of the city.

The bridge's name also served a practical purpose: displaying breasts helped distinguish the women from transvestite prostitutes, who were excluded from the practice. The nearby Traghetto del Buso was the ferry crossing where clients reached the red-light district across the Grand Canal.