Corte Bressana
Venice · Italy · Alley
The bell-ringer of St Mark's sold his skeleton to a professor and drank the money. Now he is said to beg for the coins to buy himself back.
Legend places one of the last bell-ringers of St Mark's in Corte Bressana in Castello, a man over two metres tall with outsized hands. The director of a Venetian scientific institute spotted him after Sunday mass and realised his skeleton would be the centrepiece of the collections. After much persuasion the bell-ringer signed a paper: for a generous sum his body would go to the institute when he died. He had a weakness for good wine and sat in taverns day after day until a stroke took him at a table. The skeleton is now in the natural history museum in the old Fondaco dei Turchi. The legend says the bell-ringer climbs the campanile of St Mark's each night to strike midnight on the Marangona, the oldest bell, then returns to Corte Bressana to beg for the money to buy himself back.
FAQ
Where is Corte Bressana located?
Corte Bressana is in Venedig, Italy.
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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.