Impromptu thread:
VENETIANS PULLING A FOUR-SEASON-LANDSCAPING TRICK
(turns out history DOES repeat sometimes)

See this guy? He could have told Trump, you must be *specific* with addresses.

He was a mercenary, Bartolomeo Colleoni (his surname meant "balls" - yeah those balls, specifically). He fought for Venice - and against Venice, too, because that's Italy for you. Anyway, he saved venice's ass more than not, and despite being a merc he was well loved in the end.

When he died, he left a HUGE amount of money to the Republic of Venice. With a stipulation: to get the money, they had to make him a statue in front of St. Mark.

That was a hard choice for the Republic. On one hand, they really liked money, and kind of liked the guy. On the other hand, they hated personality cults, generally avoided statues to *anyone*, and a statue in St. Mark square, the heart of the city, was a big no-no.

(no one - not even doges - got statues in St. Mark squares. The only statues there are saints and abstract personifications!)

Buuut, while committed to follow the letter of his requests, they found a loophole. You see, he clearly meant to have the statue in front of St. Mark's *church*. But there's another St. Mark in Venice!

This is the School of St. Mark. It's not a school in the modern sense, it was basically a mutual aid society, but the point is: it was *technically* St. Mark, but wasn't nearly that important to the city. A beloved (and dead) commander could get a statue there.

And that's where the (very fancy, very impressive) statue of Colleoni was placed, and still is. Technically in front of St. Mark. Venice's lawyers made a good high five, and a wild party with the inheritance money I guess.

So, learn from history: write your addresses in full. #DOGEposting