A gondolier bends to his oar in the shadowed foreground as the ornate stone arch of a canal bridge catches the midday light above the mirror-smooth Rio Canonica, with the unmistakable enclosed arch of the Bridge of Sighs — the Ponte dei Sospiri — framing the canal's vanishing point in this exquisite real-photo postcard shot from Venice's most atmospheric back-water angle. The card was sent from the Hotel Cavalletto in Venice on June 9, 1951, by a traveler staying there who addressed it to Mr. and Mrs. Merritt at 112 Comfort Street, Rochester 20, N.Y., filling every inch of the message space with densely packed blue ink — a vivid travelogue of mid-century Italy. The Italian 35-lire "Italia al Lavoro" (Italy at Work) stamp is cancelled at Venice Centro, June 12, 1951, and the card was published by Fotocelere of Turin as a "Vera Fotografia" (genuine photograph) real-photo postcard, giving it exceptional tonal quality for the period. Hotel Cavalletto, one of Venice's oldest hotels near St. Mark's Square, stamped its purple ink imprint on the back as a souvenir card, adding further provenance.