The Bocca della Verità is nothing more than a manhole cover of the Cloaca Maxima.
After the Coliseum, one of the most famous images of the Eternal City is this mysterious bearded male face, carved on a Pavonazzetto marble slab of about 1.75 metres in diameter.
The mascherone, or great mask, located in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, was intended as the depiction of a river deity. The holes corresponding to the eyes, nose and mouth were created as drainage for rainwater.
The fame of its magical properties dates back to the Middle Ages. It was even thought, according to one legend, that Virgil (Grammaticus), a sixth-century scholar reputed to be a magician, had built the Bocca della Verità himself, for the use of husbands and wives who doubted their spouses’ fidelity. The mouth was supposed to bite off the hand of the liar. In fact, one legend tells us that a Roman noblewoman, accused of betrayal by her husband, persuaded her lover to show up on the day of the trial and kiss her, pretending to be mad. The unfaithful wife was able to swear to have kissed only two men in her life, her husband and that madman. She turned out to be the only person to have defeated the mask’s magic.
The name, “Bocca della Verità”, appeared for the first time in the 15th century, mentioned among the Roman curiosities in travel guides. Its history began to grow to include events and episodes that certified its effectiveness. But it was the movie “Roman Holiday” (1953, with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn) that made this marble mask famous the world over.
Few tourists today deny themselves a photograph in front of the famous mouth. Every day, long lines of cosmopolitan visitors form in front of the church, which is also one of the most interesting monuments of medieval Rome.