The long path of the monumental promenade of the city of Venice starts from the Paglia bridge and was already built in the IX century to link Saint Mark’s Square with the Church of San Pietro di Castello. Its position, overlooking the lagoon and close to the centres of power, lent it a primarily commercial character, named after the Dalmatian sailors (Schiavoni) who worked there. With the Napoleonic age it became the link with Giardini and took on a more residential character with mainly nineteenth-twentieth-century buildings, including the debated Hotel Danieli Excelsior.