Cast in Stone

Paolo Barbaro

A Roman urn near Ponte del Paradiso, Castello	San Giosafat (Iosafa), Patron Saint of Ukraine, Campo S. Maria Formosa, Castello 5264	Christ at a corner in Dorsoduro

Annunciation, San Marco 3128, Crosera (off Salizada S. Samuele)	Annunciation, detail

Annunciation, San Marco 3127, marks the site of an old hospice and hostel for German shoemakers	Corner of Castello with a holy parapet to ward off public peeing	Portico between Campi San Zaccaria and San Provolo

"A resident of Venice must shoulder the burden of this enormous aesthetic weight for his entire life.... These narrow calli allow your sight no scape, they squeeze it between a pictorial foreshortening and an architectural epiphany; they crush your eyes between the grace of a bridge and the shady charm of a portico." Built to Kill, Tiziano Scarpa, translated by Lawrence Venuti

Pietà on Calle del Pestrin, off Calle Varisco,  near Cannaregio 5330	A winged bull near Ponte Storto, San Polo

Side doorway, Santa Maria dei Miracoli	Side doorway, Santa Maria dei Miracoli

Near San Girolamo, Cannaregio	San Lorenzo about to be grilled, Fondamenta de l'Osmarin, Castello	Lost arm

Lista Vechia dei Bari at Corte Pisani, Santa Croce	Lista Vechia dei Bari at Corte Pisani, Santa Croce

Wellhead at Fondaco dei Turchi, Santa Croce	Hand near the church of San Marcuola, indicating that the church has Saint John the Baptist's right hand, Cannaregio

Carnal love behind bars, Dorsoduro	"Oops! I dropped the mortar and killed the standard bearer of the revolution and got a freeze on my rent for over 400 years!" San Marco (behind Torre de l'Orologio)	Brotherly love, Venetian style, San Marco

Near Ponto Storto, San Polo 1510B	Near Ponte Storto, San Polo	Near the Rialto bridge, San Polo

Virgin, Child, Saint Barbara and Saint Omobon, patron saint of tailors, Fondamenta dei Sartori, Cannaregio 4838	Basilica of San Marco. The turbaned man, supposedly the builder of the basilica, is biting his fingernails afraid of the punishment he would receive for boasting that his work was perfect.

On the façade of the church of Santa Maria del Giglio (or Santa Maria Zobenigo) in the sestiere of San Marco, there are six bas-reliefs depicting cities once under Venice's control, including Rome (which was not).

Santa Maria del Giglio, Candia	Santa Maria del Giglio, Corfu

Santa Maria del Giglio, Padova	Santa Maria del Giglio, Roma

Santa Maria del Giglio, Spalato	Santa Maria del Giglio, Zara

Mistake or stonemason's hidden message? Look carefully at the tracery of the upper balconies in Desdemona's house. One wheel seems to spin in the opposite direction. The Palazzetto Contarini-Fasan, also known as Desdemona's house, can be best admired from Campo de la Salute. Legend has it that in Medieval Venice Desdemona was killed by her jealous husband of the Moro family. Shakespeare borrowed the storyline for his Othello.		The same wheels appear in a modern palazzetto on Rio del Gaffaro, Santa Croce

Perhaps another mason's hidden message, San Marco, Salizada Pio X, next to the Rialto bridge	Gone but not forgotten, Fondamenta San Severo, Castello

"The window cuts through the arch above the great portal, just underneath the point....An arch is one of those things that should never be broken, like a mirror." Across the Bridge of Sighs, Jane Turner Rylands.

	Bocca di Leone Bocca della Verità, Venetian style. These "lion's mouths" were prominent in Venice. This one in the Palazzo Ducale was used by the citizens to drop denunciations against anybody to the Council of Ten. Anonymous notes were not considered and no person was sentenced without a trial. However, these little mouths instilled terror. They were also found in churches, for zealous snitches.

The Rialto Bridge was the first bridge to cross the Grand Canal. A primitive pontoon bridge, called Ponte della Moneta, was built in 1181 and later replaced by a wooden structure. Bajamonte Tiepolo, the leader of the revolution of 1310, burnt it as he escaped from the Doge's men, after his standard bearer was killed by that fateful mortar. Another wooden bridge was built but collapsed in 1444 when a large crowd gathered to watch a wedding procession on the Grand Canal. It was rebuilt again in 1458 and collapsed again in 1524. It was finally replaced in 1591 by the present stone structure, a design of an architect with a fitting name: Antonio da Ponte. People did not believe that the bridge would ever be finished and coined the phrase that the bridge would be built "when penises grew nails and vaginas were on fire." The architect of the adjacent Camerlenghi Palace echoed these sentiments in the whimsical carvings he ordered for the capitals of the palace's main façade. A man grows a third leg between the other two and a woman has her genitalia on fire.

Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, San Polo	Palazzo dei Camerlenghi, San Polo

"The lover returns to the contemplation of his mistress with ardor ever new; he resumes the endless task of cataloguing her charms, only to find that having said all, he has not said half enough." Horatio Brown, Venetian Studies.