This empty space giving onto the Grand Canal is the Erbaria, which is Venetian for Herbs Store. This part of the Rialto market would have been full of stalls selling all sorts of herbs, vegetables and fruits. Today the Erbaria is a popular hang-out spot where young people meet for an aperitivo in the evening.
Before moving on, on the wall above the bar facing the canal you’ll see the white sign “Erbaria”; this, as all the other street signs around the city, is unlike any other sign in the world. Venetians have a particular word for the them: “nissioleti”, which is Venetian for small blankets, almost as if the sign had been stretched out lightly and hung onto the wall like a thin blanket.