This long street is known as Mercerie, which mean ‘haberdashers’. In 1645 the writer John Evelyn’s account of “one of the most delicious streets in the world” describes that among the luxury textile emporia were shops selling perfumes and medicines too. Entering the Mercerie from Piazza san Marco, immediately to your right, you’ll see a bas-relief of an old lady dropping a mortar. In 1310, the conspirators of a famous failed coupd’etat had gathered here just before marching to the Palazzo Ducale, but a woman living here acidentally dropped her working tool which fell on the flagbearer’s head, killing him, which, in turn, caused the rebels to panic and disperse, thus thwarting the coup altogether. As a token of gratitude the State promised the woman it would not raise the rent as long as she or her discendents lived in the flat.
Today the Mercerie is one of the most trafficked shopping streets in the city, where all big-name fashion designers can be found.
