532 claudio povolo
increasingly harsh, deeply influenced the administration of criminal jus-
tice and firmly separated it from local feuds.46
this was a profound transformation that over the course of several
decades led to the creation of an extraordinary form of administration of
justice that was an expression not only of state power but also, above all, of
the demands of important sectors of society for a new conception of social
order. these transformations clearly influenced the cultural dimension of
violence and justice47 and gave rise to entirely new figures in the realm
of criminality: the violent nobleman addicted to violence and oppression,
and the outlaw permanently denied any possibility of reintegration into
society and doomed to be the prey of bounty hunters.
An Intermediate Scene (Approximately 60 Years Earlier)28 December 1552, Malo, A Village about Twenty Kilometers North
of Vicenza
the events of this day would be remembered for decades to come, both
by members of the nobility of Vicenza, who had extensive landholdings
in the area, and by the peasants, artisans, and merchants who lived in the
village.
the anger exploded unstoppable, like a raging river at flood, through
the narrow streets of the small village, rushing and battering the walls
of the mighty palazzo and dovecote where members of the urban nobil-
ity had found refuge moments after rashly attacking and wounding the
two sons of bortolamio cadin, a wealthy silk merchant who lived in the
village.
the palazzo was rapidly encircled by a seething mob intent on set-
tling the score with the men who had sought safety within its walls. the
threatening confusion of attackers’ cries was accompanied by, and almost
synchronized with, the incessant clanging of the tocsin. within just a few
moments the sound of the bell, which usually warned the village inhabit-
ants of imminent danger, had gathered a few hundred people around the
palazzo of the noble cavazzola family.
46 Povolo, Dall’ordine, pp. 54–76.
47 for europe, see Pieter spierenburg, A History of Murder: Personal Violence in Europe
from the Middle Ages to the Present (cambridge, 2008), pp. 43–64.