The Mouth Of Truthiness

The famed Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth) wasn't far from our apartment, so we headed there after the Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli.

It's on an outside wall of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin Church at the Piazza della Bocca della Verita, which was the site of the Forum Boarium (cattle market).

(Editor: Now you are just showing off, using as many Italian and Roman words as you can.  Writer: Reus! (which means "guilty" in Latin).

Just across the street from the church with is part of the Piazza which includes the Temple of Hercules Victor, where the Mouth of Truth is believed to have originated.

According to Wikipedia:

"According to an enduring medieval legend, it will bite off the hand of any liar who places their hand in its mouth, or, alternatively, any who utters a lie while their hand is in the mouth."

In the movie 1953 rom com movie "Roman Holiday," Gregory Peck shocks Aubrey Hepburn's character by pretending to lose his hand.  (Spoiler alert: Peck did NOT, in fact, lose his hand.)

The Mouth of Truth is an ancient Roman marble mask, believed to be the god Oceanus.  It weighs a staggering 2,900 lbs, so if it falls off the wall whilst your hand is in it, you WILL lose your hand.  But that's pretty much the only way that would happen.

It is believed to have been a water drain cover across the street at one of the temples dedicated to Hercules, or it was used by cattle merchants to drain the blood of cows sacrificed to Hercules.  Either way, it's a touristy yet fun thing to do.  (If you find the photos below too campy for you to go there whilst in Rome, please stop reading this blog and read one about learning to have fun and enjoy yourself.)

When we arrived, there was a bit of a line, but nothing that we could handle.  The line moved along. . .thanks to a person at the end and at the front of the line to keep people moving.  Once you get within sight of it (as the people ahead of you make it difficult to see), the circular disc looks like an ancient Roman emoji. 😉

Our hands emerged from the

Mouth of Truth intact, so that's

a good outcome.

I gotta admit, it's a surprising

outcome for a political

consultant.  I expected to

at lose a few fingers

at the least.

Julia also emerged unscathed,

undoubtedly because of the UVA

Honor Code.

After that we headed into the church, where we bopped around for a brief look, including going downstairs to the crypt of Pope Adrian.

Roman columns across the

street from the church.

The dove in the church

represents the Holy Spirit.

The church at dusk.  The Mouth

of Truth is located inside the

portico by the furthest left arch.

On the way back to our nearby apartment to get ready for dinner, we stopped in at our local.  In England, "our local" means the pub you go to.  In Rome, "our local" refers to the nearest church, given how many there are of them.  

Santa Maria in Portico de Campitelli is a Baroque church that took eight years to build, and was completed in 1667.  You don't need to go out of your way to go to it, and since it was right down the street from our apartment, we actually didn't go out of our way.

From the outside, it's not the prettiest church, but it was neat spending a week listening to its church bells ring in the mornings and evenings.

The facade has both ionic columns (which are kind of iconic) and Corinthian columns, the latter type Ricardo Montalban especially appreciates.

She looks like an angel. (Of

course, our daughters looked

like angels when they were

sleeping, but then they woke up.)

Random fresco in the

church.  Gotta love it.