726 william eamon
Figure 19.3. among the myriad healers swarming the piazzas in early modern
Venice, the snake handler (sanpaolaro) was one of the strangest and most dra-
matic. This print, from a portfolio of drawings on the humble trades, depicts one
performing on a Bologna piazza, but the scene was often repeated on the Piazza
San Marco in Venice. Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, Le arte per via (Bologna, 1660).
courtesy of arnaldo Forni editore.