Ponterosso (Red Bridge) is the name of the bridge positioned in 1831 to replace the pre-existing one made of wood and which, indeed, was red in colour. It connected the square (of the same name) with the then Via delle Poste, allowing one to cross the Grand Canal.By order of Maria Teresa of Austria in 1756 the canal was widened and the large quantity of land obtained from the operation formed the quadrangular embankment of the square, today intersected by Via Roma. Its strategic position, very close to the ships' docking spaces and on the communication route between the old and the new city, immediately made it the site of a lively market overseen by the toddler who stands on the eighteenth-century fountain, called Giovanin de Ponterosso, who was garlanded by vendors of fresh flowers on St. John's Day. Large and quadrangular, it is surrounded by numerous buildings of great architectural value, such as the monumental headquarters of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, Palazzo Bacicchi and Casa Allodi with its octagonal turret.