liturgies of violence 525
war for two years. the population had responded almost spontaneously to
the arrival of the bandits, even rallying neighboring villages. the word had
quickly spread: the leader of the small group of bandits was the famous
giovanni beatrice, known throughout the region as Zanzanù (fig. 13.2).
the troop leaders’ preemptory orders prevailed, both against fear and
against the sympathy that Zanzanù enjoyed among the population of the
region. groups of armed men rushed to block the roads and occupy the
passes that led to the nearby border. others were sent to track the ban-
dits, who had been forced to release their hostage. and still other men
went into the mountains, forcing the fugitives to take refuge in a ravine.
there the battle raged for the entire day in the summer heat. two of the
bandits were killed in the fierce shooting, along with five men from the
village. another bandit fell to the ground wounded. only toward evening
were the bandits driven out of their refuge. Zanzanù and his two remain-
ing companions managed to escape the encirclement and descend head-
long to the valley. but unexpectedly, from below came more men, sent
from the community of gargnano. the bandits’ flight finally ended in a
small valley bordered by two streams. surrounded on all sides, the three
men fell under the deadly blasts from the attackers’ arquebuses. the next
day, the bodies of Zanzanù and his companions were transported along
the lakeshore to salò, the capital of the riviera del garda. their formal
identification would be the first step in the procedure required to collect
the large price on their heads.
these episodes represent two important moments in the complex his-
torical process that, between the 16th and 17th centuries, politically and
legally redefined the social equilibria and cultural values that had long
characterized the terraferma communities in the Veneto and Lombardy
and their relationship with the ruling city of Venice.
the first episode comes from a thick file prepared in 1605–07 by order
of the council of ten at the request of the community of orgiano, whose
representatives had appeared before the Signoria to complain about the
continuous and repeated abuses committed by the Vicentine nobleman
Paolo orgiano and his bravi.36 Paolo orgiano was responsible for a series
of rapes of village women that directly affected not only the physical
safety but especially the honor of their husbands, fathers, and brothers.
orgiano, however, was protected by a vast and powerful network of noble
36 see claudio Povolo, c. andreato, V. cesco, and M. Marcarelli, eds., Processo a Paolo
Orgiano (1605–1607) (rome, 2003), pp. 15–20.