Believe it or not. Not only Paris has it’s own hunchback (gobbo), but Venice too: you won’t find him neither in the Ducal Palace, nor in the Basilica, but in … Rialto.
The Gobbo di Rialto is located in Campo San Giacomo di Rialto, means: after having crossed Rialto Bridge (coming from the sestriere San Marco) you only have to continue straight ahead and cross the campo.
According to a legend, the hunchback really existed and was condemned to sustain a similar stairwell on his shoulders until his death(of exhaustion).
But actually, having a better look at the statue, the Hunchback of Rialto is not a real hunchback – like the main character, Quasimodo, in Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” – but a man bent over because of the enormous weight.
The statue was created by Pietro da Salò in 1541 and got soon the main character of a rather strange “tradition”: culprits and thiefs – whipped on their way from San Marco to Rialto – were able to put an end to their suffering giving the hunchback a kiss. (cf. Misteri di Venezia, Alberto Toso Fei)
