 The statutes of Venice or the names of offenders would be proclaimed by an official standing on the block at the same time as they were read out at the Pietra del Bando near Piazza San Marco.It was also used as the finishing point for a punishment for minor misdemeanours; the guilty party would be stripped naked and made to run the gauntlet of citizens lining the streets from Piazza San Marco to the Rialto, saving themselves further humiliation by kissing the statue.By the 19th century, time had taken its toll on the statue.