Mouth of Truth

It is a marble disc almost two metres wide with the face of a sea god, probably Oceanus. It is thought to have been a Roman drain cover or fountain mouth, and since the 17th century it has stood in the portico of the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

Medieval legend says it bites the hand of anyone who lies, and the scene with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in «Roman Holiday» made it famous worldwide. The 8th-century church behind it has a Romanesque bell tower and a Cosmatesque floor that few people go in to see.