“El cuor no se vende” – “the heart cannot be sold”, was a slogan spread across the canal side of the Pescaria of Rialto, that is, the Fish Market you are in now; this incident occurred when Venetians successfully opposed the sale of the Palazzo to an Arab emir about a decade ago. The actual structure of columns you see was built in 1907, so it is relatively new; in fact, previously there would have been an excited mix of tents and moored boats of all sizes here, where fishermen would sell their merchandise to haggling Venetians. Given the vast number of merchant boats, the traffic in this area of the Grand Canal was so problematic that in the 16th century that the Republic decided that fish could only be sold by Venetian residents, and only if they could prove they were over 50 and had been profesisonal fishermen for at least 20 years.
