It is said that Pope Sixtus V at the end of the sixteenth century loved to mingle with the common people, disguised as a commoner.

He did this so he could listen to people: he really wanted to know what people thought of him.

For this reason the Pope stripped of his papal clothes and wore less elegant clothes to disguise himself among the common people listening and trying not to be recognized.

One day, while he was in a tavern in Piazza Navona, he listened the innkeeper who repeatedly insulted the pope for a new tax applied to wine.

The next day, the innkeeper discovered a gallows built right in front of his inn.

For this reason the innkeeper was very happy, thinking of the high revenues that that scaffold would have brought to his inn... however, in reality, the gallows was intended for his own head, which was severed. Unfortunately the poor innkeeper was arrested and promptly executed.

To commemorate this event and the man's memory, his friends decided to have a portrait of his innkeeper friend set on the wall. Even today there is that small marble head, which serves as a warning and advice against speaking rashly about someone in the presence of strangers.

The head can be seen in Piazza Navona n. 34