liturgies of violence 527
the aristocracy thus performed their acts of violence on the all-impor-
tant field of honor, with the goal of more clearly delineating the border
between itself and subordinate classes. when Paolo orgiano committed
these violations on this contested terrain it created an explosive situation.
this instability, coupled with demands for justice emanating from both
the charismatic and authoritative figure of the curate and members of the
most prominent peasant families of the village at last impelled the coun-
cil of ten to intervene decisively in the local conflict and to begin the legal
process that ultimately led to a life sentence for the principal accused.37
the proceedings against Paolo orgiano and other members of the
nobility of Vicenza is thus an important and representative example of
the forceful measures that the republic of Venice, like other italian and
european states, took in this period to weaken not just the power of the
aristocracy but also the traditional dominance of cities over their hinter-
lands. this was a long and complex process, which began in the wake
of the tumultuous 16th-century economic transformations and the new
pressures exerted by emerging social classes. while it did not change the
traditional social hierarchies organized around honor, it did clearly make
them more susceptible to contamination from the new hierarchies that
were inevitably formed on the basis of wealth as well as of different defini-
tions of what constituted honorable status. a similar process was taking
place all across europe,38 but, as we shall see, the particular features of the
Venetian case, which became more pronounced during the second half
of the 17th century and the century that followed, are attributable to the
fact that these transformations were taking place in a republic that was
unable to redefine even partially the fundamental power structures that
characterized the relationship between the ruling class of the dominant
city and the elites of the subject cities.
this account of the bitter armed conflict that took place in the moun-
tains around Lake garda on 17 august 1617 comes from the documents
submitted by the two participating communities in the course of their
efforts to claim the bounty and other benefits offered by the council
of ten to the killers of the famous bandit giovanni beatrice, known as
Zanzanù. but the events of that memorable day are also depicted in a
majestic ex-voto painted by giovan andrea bertanza, which still hangs
37 Povolo, L’intrigo, pp. 335–54.
38 spierenburg, Social Control, pp. 14–15.