Pasquino, the talking statue

Just behind Piazza Navona stands a weather-worn marble torso, a fragment of an ancient sculpture placed here in 1501. Ever since, Romans have stuck anonymous, biting verses against the powerful on it at night — the “pasquinades”. It is the most famous of Rome's talking statues.

Did you know: There were six talking statues and they “talked” to each other: Pasquino often answered Marforio, now in the Capitoline Museums. The word “pasquinade” entered the English language too.

✦ The legend: The mutilated statue at the corner of the square is the oldest of Rome's “talking statues”. The name is said to come from Pasquino, a local craftsman — a tailor or a barber, depending on the version — known for his sharp tongue against the powerful. Since the sixteenth century Romans have pinned anonymous notes to the pedestal by night: the pasquinate. Anyone passing today still finds some.