The two columns of San Marco and San Teodoro (Tòdaro) erect in front of the basin of San Marco towards the pier are in marble and granite. They were transported to the city by the east as loot of war and constitute the entrance to Venice for those who came from the sea. Originally had to be three, but one was lost in the lagoon sunk along with the ship that carried it.  On the top of the column towards Palazzo Ducale there is the statue of the winged Lion, symbol of St. Mark, the column towards the Biblioteca Marciana has on the top the statue of San Teodoro, the first protector of the city, Byzantine saint and warrior.

Vien che te fasso veder mi che ora che xe… (Come on that I’ll show you what time it is) With this said, once in Venice, they threatened the unruly or disobedient children by amplifying, in reality, what was once a serious threat.

 

In fact, from the middle of the eighteenth century the space between the two stems was destined for the execution of capital, so threatening someone to see the hour was referred to the poor condemned who gave his back to the lagoon, as last thing saw the tower Of the Moors ‘ clock in front of him.
Still among the local population persists the superstitious use of not crossing the clearing between the columns 🙂
A curiosity (from Wikipedia):

“The space between the two columns was also the only ” enclave “, in which one could legally gamble, a privilege granted to Nicolò barattio (or Barattieri), or the one who managed to find a way to erect the heavy structures left long stretched to the ground: Through the use of large ropes that were fixed at the end of a column and then wet, thus exerting a strong traction that allowed to lift them a few centimeters and to tuck beneath the wooden wedges, the builder Bergamasco, who had Already distinguished in the construction of the bell cell of the bell tower of St. Mark, it made this way the work of lifting the heavy columns without damaging them. “