At the northern end of Cannaregio is a long square with a well-known house, the Palazzo Mastelli. In the 12th century it belonged to three merchant brothers, Robia, Sandi and Alfani Mastelli, from Morea (Peloponnese). These medieval silk merchants made this family palace their home. It is believed that over time the field in front of his house took on the brothers’ nickname “Mori”.
Another theory behind the name suggests that the Fondaco degli Arabi (Arab merchants’ store) was located on the edge of this field and the Venetians confused the two races. Whatever the story, Campo dei Mori’s enduring fame (or notoriety) arose in subsequent years from the three Moorish-style statues of Moors, said to represent the brothers, on the east wall of their house. One of them, to which a rusty and rather unsightly metal nose was added in the 19th century, has been affectionately known for hundreds of years as Signor Antonio Robia. At his feet, Venetian rebels left anonymous written denunciations with each other for all to read, giving the statue a role somewhat similar to that of Palaquinus in Rome.
Around the corner, in Fondamenta dei Mori, the house in which the famous painter Tintoretto (number 3399) lived between 1574 and 1594 is marked by another turbaned statue, while a bridge to the north of the field leads across Rio Madonna Dell’Orto a Chiesa Madonna dell’Orto, one of the best gothic churches in Venice.