Bocce di Leone

A bocce di Leone © A. Harrison

I found this Bocce di Leone while wandering around Venice as the sun was rising. (I always love exploring a place in the early morning, watching the streets wake up around me. In Venice I love watching the gondolas with their gondoliers set off to work.)

These Bocce di Leone, or Lion's Mouths were used during the Republic to make complaints and denunciations against individuals – a concerned citizen put a letter in the mouth, and the State investigated. Significant evidence was required before the State would act, and a signed, rather than anonymous, letter was preferred.

Walk around Venice, and you can still find these – such at as at the Doge's Palace, for example, or the Church of St Martin. Wandering Venice, you'll never quite know what you will find.

Another cute Venetian lion watching from a roof top © A. Harrison

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