Gregory Peck scares Audrey Hepburn to death in the film Roman Holiday when he tests the legend of the Bocca della Verità, an ancient Roman circular stone mask found on the outer wall of the church Santa Maria in Cosmedin , in the Italian capital. He says legend that a liar will lose his hand if he puts it in the mouth of the mask. The actor does it and pretends that her mouth catches it, to the actress’s horror.
Some tourists imitate Peck in Barcelona by putting their hand in the mouth of a stone lion found on the wall in a corner of Petritxol Street, believing it to be a reduced version of the popular Roman monument. But it is not the Bocca della Verità, nor is there any legend about this lion. It is actually an old fountain, now unused, whose spout emerged from the feline’s mouth. In fact, remains of the pipe still remain inside.
The lion’s head is located next to the historic Sala Parés art gallery, the first in Spain, and under an image of the Virgin of Mercè. This statuette was placed in 1950 by the Petritxol neighborhood association, the first in Barcelona, ??founded three years earlier. This entity promoted on this street the recovery of the Mercè festivities in Barcelona, ??which had lost popularity in the years before the civil war.
In the 1950s, it was also when the association began placing ceramic panels on the facades of the buildings explaining the history of the street and listing the illustrious neighbors it has had.
Petritxol is also the first street in the city to be converted into a pedestrian street, in 1959. The first references to its existence date back, according to some sources, to 1292.
Years ago, the lion fountain lost the spout through which the water flowed and also the stone tray that it had directly beneath it. This fountain, in all likelihood heir to a previous one, is part of the set of decorative elements promoted by the neighborhood association to enhance the street during the post-war period. It is also known for the existence of the popular chocolate shops, which began to be established between the 17th and 18th centuries.