Il Gobbo di Rialto

When Gobbo di Rialto or the hunchback of Rialto is a statue of Istrian marble, which is located opposite the church of San Giacomo di Rialto in Venice. The statue, which was created in the 16th century by Pietro da Salò, illustrates a cowering, naked hunchback, which supports a small set of stairs.

According to the writings of Stefano Magno was inaugurated on November 16, 1541 and used as a platform for official proclamations. The laws of the Republic of Venice or the name of lawbreakers were read from a standing on the deck officers, while another official announced the same from the Pietra del Bando, a small pulpit in Piazza San Marco.

The Gobbo was also used for punishments smaller culprit. The culprits were stripped naked and had to walk along to the gloves of the citizens, which were designed on the streets from Piazza San Marco to the Rialto market. They saved themselves from further humiliation by kissing the statue.

In 1836, the statue was restored by the municipality, the platform above the head of the hunchback was now wearing a Latin inscription with the date of recovery.

It was said that the Gobbo communicating with the Pasquino, one of the talking statues of Rome. From the early 16th century on the Pasquino was a torso, used as a means for critical comments against the Pope and the authorities: Satirical comments were anonymous attached to the base of the statue; supposedly they came from the Pasquino. In the 17th century the Pasquino conducted a correspondence with the Gobbo on the Republic of Venice, Pope Paul V and the writings of Cardinal Baronio and Bellarmine.

The figures of Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock's servant, and his father, old Gobbo in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice may have been inspired by this traditional symbol of the Rialto.