A calle (a Venetian lane) that wraps around the south flank of the church of San Zulian, between the campo (the square) and the Specchieri, and that bears the name of an invisible trade: the secretaries. They were the ’mandarins’ of the Serenissima (the Republic of Venice) — the ducal notaries and the officials of the Chancery, ’original citizens’ excluded from the government of the patricians but masters of the machinery of State.