The lies, as you know, have short legs but is it always like that?.... In Rome in the Church Santa Maria in Cosmedin, you can find the Mouth of Truth. If you lie holding your hand into the Mouth of Truth, it will be cut immediately.
This famous marble mask called La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth) is known around the world for its legend, but not many know that its origins have roots in the Middle Ages. The hand of somebody who was telling too many lies, was actually cut by an executioner placed just behind the mask.
One of the famous legends is about a noblewoman accused of adultery by her husband who wanted a judgment of the Mouth of Truth. When she was walking to the Mouth, between two columns of the crowd , a boy suddenly gave her a passionate kiss. Faced general indignation, he justified himself saying that he had endured a poor innocent girl; The woman, meanwhile, slipped her hand into the rock and declared: "I swear that no man except my husband and the young man who just now kissed me never touched me!". She was recognized by the Mouth as innocent and her hand was saved. It fact she was very clever because earlier she had invented with her lover all this "sudden kiss" in order to distract the judge behind the Mouth.
Are you brave enough to visit La Booca della Verità ?
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