When looking at the Doge’s Palace from the side of St. Mark’s Basilica, you’ll notice that two of the columns on the first-floor loggia are pink, unlike the others, which are white. The two pink columns mark the spot from which the Doge would watch public ceremonies, events, and executions held in the square. The space between the two large columns overlooking the canal — one topped with the Lion of Saint Mark, the other with a statue of Saint Theodore — was historically used for capital executions. A rope would be tied between the columns, and the condemned were hanged from it. In more severe cases, if the crime was considered especially heinous, the condemned might first be tortured: their hand cut off, their eyes gouged out, and finally, beaten to death with a club (“mazzato” in Venetian dialect).
Their body would then be tied to four horses, pulled apart, and the remains displayed at the four entrances to the city as a warning to its citizens.
For this reason, Venetians never walk between the two columns — they go around them — out of respect for those executed there. Others avoid the space simply out of superstition. Cross between the columns brings bad luck.
