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Statue dei Mori (Case Mastelli)

Sior Antonio Rioba, the ’Pasquino of Venice’, with the iron nose and the basket of goods
Sior Antonio Rioba, the ’Pasquino of Venice’, with the iron nose and the basket of goods Photo: Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Mori of Campo dei Mori were not Moors at all. Rioba, Sandi and Afani were Greek merchants from the Peloponnese, the ancient Morea, whence the nickname, arrived in Venice in 1112 according to a Marciana chronicle. Their fortune, legend says, travelled in large mastelli — vats or tubs — and hence the surname Mastelli was supposedly born.

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