A stump of red granite with a stair beside it, standing opposite the church in Campo San Giacomo di Rialto. From the top of it the Republic announced its decisions to the people who were already there to trade.
At a glance
Venice had two stones for public proclamations, one at each end of its axis of power: the pietra del bando in Piazza San Marco, and this one at Rialto. Both are of the same red granite, brought back from Acre in 1291. Heralds climbed the stair beside the column to read out sentences and the lists of those banished from the city.
What you see
A stepped base, a short shaft of red granite, and a flight of stone steps rising to it, now enclosed by an iron railing. The figure that gives the monument its name — the bent man who appears to carry the weight of the stair — is what Venetians called the gobbo, the hunchback. The attribution of the sculpture is not settled: it is often given to Pietro da Salò in 1541, while the entry on Pietro Grazioli in the Italian Dictionary of Biography lists the figure among works in which his hand has been supposed. We name neither until the question is closed.
Why it matters
Punishment in Venice was announced where the money was. A sentence read here reached the merchants, the bankers under the portico and the market in one go, without a courtroom or a square set aside for the purpose. The foot of the stair had a second use: it was the end point of the run a condemned thief was made to make through the city.
Practical information
- In the open air on Campo San Giacomo di Rialto, opposite the church; visible at all hours
- The monument is railed off and cannot be climbed
Getting there
Waterbus to Rialto Mercato; on foot, the campo lies at the western foot of the Rialto bridge, through the arcades.
Sources
- Comune di Venezia, Una calle, una storia: campo San Giacometo — live.comune.venezia.it
- Treccani, Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, entry GRAZIOLI, Pietro
Photographs by Luigi De Marchi. Editorial text © Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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