Venice city council on Tuesday said it had no plans to make modifications to a new bridge over the Grand Canal despite the fact that people have been tripping up on its stone and glass steps.
Ten tourists have ended up in casualty after losing their footing on Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's Constitution Bridge, which opened 20 days ago.
Public works councillor Mara Rumiz said falls on Venice bridges ''are natural'' and that it would be ''less complicated and less costly'' to put signs up alerting tourists to the problem rather than ''substituting parts of the bridge''.
Calatrava on Tuesday had suggested modifying 24 of the bridge's glass steps, some of which are wider than others to allow people to stop and admire the view, but which require them to change natural walking pace.
''According to works director Salvatore Vento, more distracted pedestrians and/or people with sight problems may not be able to immediately perceive the change of rhythm and so they risk falling,'' the architect's studio said in a statement.
It went on to suggest swapping the glass steps for stone, an operation it said was ''neither complicated nor costly'' and could be completed in two nights in order to keep the bridge open during the day.
The bridge - which links Venice's railway station with the Piazzale Roma car, bus and ferry terminal - has been dogged by controversy because of cost overruns, concerns about its stability and an initial lack of access for the disabled.
An original price tag of four million euros in the mid-1990s has swelled to what the council says is more than 11 million.
Calatrava, who has described the work as his ''most beautiful bridge'' and ''an act of love for Venice and for Italian civilization in general'', said earlier this month that the the overruns had ''nothing to do'' with him but were caused by an initial underestimation of costs.
He also noted that the need for disabled access, which is costing an extra million, had not been raised at the planning stage.
The sleek 94-metre arc of steel was opened without fanfare at midnight on September 11.
Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari had been forced to cancel its official inauguration with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano after the bridge's critics threatened to disrupt the event.
