In the later days of the Republic, impoverished nobles were (modestly) lodged at the public expense in this parish, and were known consequently as ‘barnabotti’.
“Too proud to work – and lose their patent of nobility – too stupid to play any part in the Government, they led lives of shabby gentility, preying on the State for lodgings and a small dole which they augmented out of the pockets of tourists,” recounts Hugh Honour in The Companion Guide to Venice.
They could also occasionally earn a little extra by selling their Great Council votes.
