Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio was used for a famous scene in the film Hannibal, a 2001 American crime thriller directed by Ridley Scott.

There is a historical kernel of truth woven into the scene. Hannibal refers to real executions at the Palazzo Vecchio in the 15th century, particularly in the context of the Pazzi Conspiracy of 1478.

In the film, Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi is hanged from a balcony of the Palazzo Vecchio by Hannibal Lecter, with Lecter explicitly referring to an earlier execution of an ancestor of Pazzi at the same building. That is not pure fiction: that reference plays on a notorious historical episode in Florence.

On April 26, 1478, the rival Pazzi family attempted to eliminate the Medici during mass in the cathedral: Giuliano de' Medici was stabbed to death, Lorenzo was wounded but survived. The conspiracy failed completely politically; the Medici struck back immediately and extremely hard.

In revenge, the leaders of the conspiracy were publicly executed: Francesco de' Pazzi and his allies were hanged from the windows of the Palazzo Vecchio (Palazzo della Signoria) so that all of Florence could see it. According to contemporaries, the bodies remained hanging there as a deterrent example.

Sources regarding the history of Florence explicitly mention that Francesco de' Pazzi was hanged from a window of the Palazzo Vecchio on the afternoon of April 26, 1478.

Along with him, other conspirators, including Archbishop Francesco Salviati, were also hanged from the windows.

In the days that followed, a total of more than eighty people involved were reportedly executed; several of them by hanging from the windows of the Palazzo.

Pascal Brackman