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The gargoyles of Palazzo Nani

The façade of Palazzo Nani on the Cannaregio Canal: the twenty gargoyles are the small heads under the windowsills
The façade of Palazzo Nani on the Cannaregio Canal: the twenty gargoyles are the small heads under the windowsills Photo: Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Almost no one notices them, yet they have been here for centuries. Beneath the windowsills of Palazzo Nani, on the façade facing the Cannaregio Canal, twenty small bearded stone heads form a row across the two principal floors and the attic storey. They are more than decoration: each is a gargoyle—or waterspout—the outlet of a rainwater drain.

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