liturgies of violence 529
ultimately, the ex-voto painting in the sanctuary of the Madonna of
Montecastello represents the economic and political transformations
that signaled the passage from the traditional bandit, formed within the
dynamics of local community conflict, to the new figure of the outlaw,
who was pursued relentlessly by the state and considered an enemy to
be destroyed by any and all means, even the most violent and illegal. and
in this painting one can even make out the dimension of myth, which in
these years had begun to shroud the life of a man overcome by his sense
of honor and destiny, who after his death became a legend that has lasted
to our day.40
The Great Change
on 15 april 1574, the council of ten issued an important law: anyone in
any part of the state who was caught in the act of committing a serious
crime—such as murder, kidnapping, rape, arson, or roadside robbery—
could be killed with impunity. this was a highly significant decision that
marked a decisive break with the past and the beginning of a new criminal
policy that over the course of the next decades would profoundly change
Venice’s relationship with its subject cities in the areas of social control
and public safety. that same day Venice also ordered all bravi out of every
corner of the republic. in subsequent years, other severe laws followed, in
particular that of 1578 decreeing the confiscation of goods in cases where
the council of ten or the senate handed down convictions for serious
crimes committed with premeditation.41
the laws issued by the council of ten reflect first and foremost the
need to address serious incidents of disorder and social unrest reported
directly by subjects or by the Venetian representatives who ruled the sub-
ject cities as podestà or captain. the origin of these incidents undoubt-
edly lay in the profound economic and social transformations that had
roiled the cities of the terraferma in particular. increased social fluidity
40 the ex-voto painting in tignale was intended as thanks to the Madonna for her grace
and as such was supposed to, through the supernatural, elicit empathy and inspire partici-
pation in the event described (on ex-votos, see david freedberg, Il potere delle immagini. Il
mondo delle figure: reazioni e emozioni del pubblico (turin, 2000), pp. 210–42). the painting,
however, seems to convey an irreconcilable tension between the aims of those who com-
missioned the work and the perceptions of those who were its immediate beneficiaries at
the time. and, not by chance, the image of Zanzanù itself ultimately took on an undoubted
social meaning, just as the repressive action of the legal institutions had long represented
it. on this, see eric hobsbawm, Bandits (new York, 1969), pp. 19–45.
41 Povolo, L’intrigo, pp. 123–26.