Venice has various types of road signs:
-The yellow signs indicating the direction towards some more visited places (San Marco, Rialto, Ferrovia, Piazzale Roma)
-The Nizioleti, the oldest sign of the city, painted by hand directly on the plaster or wall of the houses, within a rectangle in white mortar surrounded by a black box (hence the name sheet: nizioleto) painted freehand with the help of an axle Of wood that was supportive.
The characters are painted with the help of forms of tin (dime) in which the letters of the alphabet are shaped.
The use of Nizioleti or Ninsioleti was adopted during the Austrian domination.
The peculiarity of this sign is that it indicates the names of the calluses, the bridges or the rii, not in Italian but in Venetian dialect.
Among the urban denominations are often names of popular trades or related to the local tradition: Squero (the shipyard in which the gondolas are built or repaired), spices: apothecary, Pistor: Baker, Scaleter: confectioner, Pestrin: Milkman, Remer: oars manufacturer, etc…
At one time some Nizioleti indicated the direction to be followed to reach destinations of particular city importance or of public interest (for example “Vaporetto”, “for San Marco”, “Poste e telegraphs”). The name of the primary destination is flanked or overlapped with an arrow indicating the direction to be followed in the pedestrian path. This type of nizioleto is distinguished because the writings and the Edge are dark red.
Also the numbering of the Venetian buildings is almost always realized in the style of the Nizioleto. In this case the master number is painted in red characters on a white background, inside an oval or rectangular panel edged with black placed on the lintel of the door.