Campo dei Mori & Sior Antonio Rioba
Why is it significant?
Say hello to Sior Antonio. He is the stone figure set into the corner of the building, wearing a turban and a heavy coat, with a bundle on his back and a nose that is not stone at all, but metal. Look around the little square and you will find his companions, other turbaned men frozen in the walls.
Key Facts
| Place | Campo dei Mori & Sior Antonio Rioba |
|---|---|
| Address | Campo dei Mori, Cannaregio, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.44550, 12.33210 |
| Part of Walk | Venice Beyond the Crowds: Cannaregio and the Jewish Ghetto |
| Generated | Generated |
Say hello to Sior Antonio. He is the stone figure set into the corner of the building, wearing a turban and a heavy coat, with a bundle on his back and a nose that is not stone at all, but metal. Look around the little square and you will find his companions, other turbaned men frozen in the walls.
Tradition says these are the Mastelli brothers, Rioba, Sandi and Afani, merchants who came to Venice from the Morea, the Peloponnese, in the twelfth century. Because they came from the Morea, Venetians called them the Mori, and the square took their name. Their family palace stands just behind, on the canal, and on its façade there is a relief of a man leading a camel loaded with goods... a merchant's boast carved in stone.
Of course Venice could not leave it there. Legend says the brothers were rich and greedy, and that they cheated a poor widow who came to buy cloth from them. She prayed to Mary Magdalene for justice, and the coins the brothers had taken from her turned to stone in their hands... and so did they. Believe it or not, the faces do look like men who have been caught.
Sior Antonio Rioba became the city's anonymous critic. Venetians would stick satirical verses and complaints on him at night, signed with his name, mocking the authorities, much as Romans did with their talking statue Pasquino. His original nose was lost long ago and replaced with an iron one, and people still rub it for luck, so it shines in the middle of the grey stone.
Now take a few steps onto the Fondamenta dei Mori and look for the plaque at number 3399. That was the home of Tintoretto, where he lived from 1574 until his death, a minute's walk from his church. Then head south across the canals to the Fondamenta della Misericordia and follow it east, until a huge, unfinished brick building rises beside the water.