Goethe's Tree

The famous road, not asphalted, is much lower than Lungadige Donatelli, and this in past centuries has made it one of the first roads to flood. Its northern end borders Piazzetta Brà Molinari and the Church of Sant'Anastasia while the southern end borders Piazzetta Pescheria. It flanks the waterfront, from where you can enjoy an enviable view of Castel San Pietro, Ponte Pietra and the river, through short stepped alleys called Vò in the past.

Now the street is very quiet with many taverns and typical restaurants to frame it, but in ancient times on this same place stood several mills and from its side streets came out the means to transport the material.  

Via Sottoriva is flanked on one side by a portico under which is placed the effigy of the Madonna with the divine Child in her arms and a Renaissance style door, which recalls the medieval period. There are also two fourteenth-century houses with Romanesque mullioned windows and three-lobed arch windows, belonging to the Monselice family, whose heir Esterina became the wife of Pietro III degli Alighieri, descendant of the great poet Dante Alighieri.

In the Middle Ages it was part of the "Chiavica" district while during the French period it was an active part of the "Piazze" district. Just during the Napoleonic period, in 1797, it was introduced in the city the "official toponymy", the progressive numbering of all the houses, starting with the number one from Sottoriva.