The shore was originally much narrower than the current one, being slightly wider than the Ponte della Paglia, as can also be seen from Jacopo de' Barbari 's plan of the 1500s and from countless paintings, prints and engravings.

The riva formed an integral part of the commercial port of Venice and was of very considerable importance due to its proximity to Piazza san marco and the center of Venetian political power.

In 1172 on the Riva at the entrance to Calle delle Rasse, Marco Cassolo stabbed Doge Vitale II Michiel who was on his way to the nearby church of San Zaccaria for Easter celebrations.

Captured immediately, Cassolo was tried, convicted and executed, and the Senate resolved that his house, which was located on the Riva at the very spot of the attack, should be razed to the ground and forbade its reconstruction in stone in perpetuity, allowing only one-story wooden dwellings to be built.

[2] The route the doge had to take to reach the church of San Zaccaria was also changed: no longer along the Riva degli Schiavoni but internally through the campo dei santi Filippo e Giacomo.