There was already a wooden bridge on this site in around 1246. Because the timbers often rotted or caught fire, it was decided it should be rebuilt in stone. The present-day stone bridge was opened in 1591, and even back then it had rows of shops on its covered walkways. 

To this day the Rialto Bridge has remained a shopping arcade, although it has now adapted to mass tourism. Every year about 30 million people visit Venice, and almost every one of them walks over the Rialto Bridge.