e bell-ringer‘s skeleton

egend says, that one of the last bell-ringers of San Marco lived here through the mid 1800s. e man, whose name has been lost over time, was over two meters tall, and had unusually large hands.

One day, the director of a scienti c institute in Venice noticed him as he le the Basilica a er Sunday mass. His rst thought was that the man's skeleton could be the major attraction of the Institute' anatomical collection. e bell-ringer allowed himself to be convinced by the professor's insistence; he accepted a large sum of money in exchange for the written promise that he would leave his skeleton to the Institute a er his death.

At rst the bell-ringer had been puzzled by the strange request, but in the end he thought:

„Why not sell my bones? I am fairly old, but the professor is much older than I am. He will die soon, and should I die even two or three years later, the contract will have long been forgotten".

BELL-RINGERS‘S SKELETON

THE BELL-RINGERS‘S SKELETON

So the professor paid the bell-ringer and added light-heartedly: "When you die, I will put your skeleton in a big glass display case, and put a bell in its hand. It will serve as the guardian of my collections!"

e bell-ringer of course was convinced deep in his heart that none of this would ever happen, and hurried o to the nearest tavern with his money.

He loved good wine and now that he could a ord it, he went to the tavern every day. He had not had time to spend all of his money when he collapsed and died at the very table he was sitting at.

us his skeleton went to the professor, who as agreed put it in a display case at the Institute with a bell in its hand.

Today, the skeleton of the bell-ringer of San Marco has been donated to the Museum of Natural History, the former Fondaco dei Turchi.

He stands in his place until shortly before midnight. At that hour, he climbs to the top of the bell-tower of San Marco and rings twelve strokes on the biggest bell, the Marangona.

en he stumbles down the street to his old house, ringing the bell and stopping the passers-by, begging for money to buy himself back.

119