The view is taken from a little way off the Riva degli Schiavoni. Canaletto has as usual narrowed the façade of the Palazzo Ducale to prevent it dominating the composition. In the right foreground is the Ponte della Paglia, named after the straw that was unloaded there for the stables of the Palazzo Ducale and for the prisons. Canaletto eliminated the Campanile, the bell-storey of which should protrude over the Palazzo Ducale, and widened the Piazzetta to show more of the Libreria.