On the upright of each step is a delicate inlaid pattern--where, in England, so often we read of the virtues of malted milk or other commodity.

Looking back from the foot of the stairs we see Sansovino's Loggetta, framed by the door; looking back from the top of the stairs we have in front of us Rizzo's statues of Adam and Eve.

This Antonio Rizzo, or Ricci, who so ably fortified Sansovino as a beautifier of Venice, was a Veronese, of whom little is known.

He flourished in the second half of the fifteenth century.
Every opportunity of passing through the courtyard should be taken, and during the chief hours of the day there is often--but not invariably--a right of way between the Porta della Carta and the Riva, across the courtyard, while the first floor gallery around it, gained by the Giants' Stairs, is also open.

For one of those capricious reasons, of which Italian custodians everywhere hold the secret, the delightful gallery looking on the lagoon and Piazzetta is, however, closed.