The Pigpen Inscriptions of Venice

A week ago I blogged about an unsolved Pigpen inscription in Venice. Thanks to Paolo Bonavoglia and some other blog readers, today I can present the solution and two other inscriptions from the same place.

Deutsche Version

In 2018, I had the opportunity to visit Venice. Unfortunately, at that time I did not know that there is a cryptological sight in the Calle del Perdon there. Blog reader Paolo Bonavoglia, with whom I was traveling at the time, also did not know it, although he lives in Venice. This is not unusual, because cryptologically interesting objects usually do not receive much attention. For this very reason, I created the Cryptologic Travel Guide with Christian Baumann, linking cryptologic sites around the world.

The Pigpen Inscription

The sight in question in Venice first came to Paolo’s and my attention via a Reddit post. It’s a Pigpen inscription that a user named “AleAKAsine” presented with the following photo (only the top panel is relevant):

Quelle/Source: Reddit

Thanks to blog reader Matthew Brown, I learned that this inscription is located in Calle del Perdon. This is in the center of Venice, about 300 meters west of the Rialto Bridge. More specifically, the panels are on the ceiling of the Sotoportego della Madonna. In Venice, a “sotoportego” is the name given to a footpath that passes under a building.

Paolo guessed that the following Pigpen table was used:

Quelle/Source: Schmeh

This gives the following plain text:

CARLVT-ADERAS

In the meantime, we can assume that the author inadvertently swapped the S and the T. The plain text should therefore read:

CARLUS-ADERAT

It’s Latin and means “Karl was here.”

Thanks to Thomas Bosbach, Gerd Hechtfischer, Alfons Hirschmann and Norbert Biermann for their contributions to solving the puzzle.

Two more coded inscriptions

In the meantime Paolo went to the Sotoportego della Madonna and took some photos there. In the process, he discovered two more scrambled inscriptions. Here is an overview:

Quelle/Source: Paolo Bonavoglia

Cryptogram number 1 is the one I have already presented. Here is the number 2:

Quelle/Source: Paolo Bonavoglia

The same Pigpen variant as above was used here. The S and the T were not swapped this time. The plain text is Italian and translates as “God exists”. And here is the number 3:

Quelle/Source: Paolo Bonavoglia

The cipher is again the same, the plain text Italian: “Dio e eterno, Carlo Zandinella è morto, Dio sia con lui”. That is, “God is eternal, Carlo Zandinella is dead, God be with him.”

What’s behind all this?

Cryptologically, the case has been solved, but the background of these tablets is still in the dark. According to Paolo, the main unencrypted inscription dates back to 1577 and commemorates a stay by Pope Alexander III 400 years earlier. The inscription was restored in 1830.

The wooden panels are fixed with screws that should not be older than 50 years. The signs themselves look older, they could be from the 16th or 17th century according to Paolo.

Unfortunately, Paolo could not find out who the above-mentioned Carlo Zandinella is. The surname Zandinella is widespread in the Venice area and is therefore difficult to associate with a specific person.

Paolo plans to go back to the Sotoportego della Madonna soon and take more pictures with a better camera. He is also planning a web page on the subject, which I will of course be happy to link to.

If any reader knows more about these inscriptions and their background, Paolo and I would be very interested.

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Further reading: Die längste verschlüsselte Inschrift der Welt

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