Don't miss the  chance to find out if your lover is a liar  at the Piazza della Bocca della Verita.   The square takes its name from one of the most original symbols of Rome,  a marble sculpture of a man-like face, situated in the portico of the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin. Legend has it  that your hand  will  be bitten off. if you tell  a lie when you put your hand in its  mouth.  There is another  legend which says that the sculpture used to be a fountain until until  a wise old man managed to deceive it, causing  the fountain to dry up.

The Piazza della Bocca della Verita  is well-known to all movie-lovers from the iconic 1953 film Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck

Besides the church the square is ovelooked by  the Temple of Hercules Victor and the Temple of Portunus.

In front of the two temples is the  Fountain of the Tritons, built  in 1715; it has an octagonal basis and portrays two tritons supporting a shell from which the water springs.

Until 1868, the square was used for public executions

Piazza della Bocca della Verita

Piazza della Bocca della Verita, 18, Rome

Opening Times

Every day 9:30 - 17:30