Spanish Sardinia: Conflicts And Alliances 267
24-year-old lover and cousin, Don Silvestro Aymerich, a cadet of the counts of
Villamar (Francesca was pregnant and immediately remarried). At the conclu-
sion of the trial, the duke of San Germano closed the new investigation into
the “conspiracy” against the viceroy by manipulating the testimony, making it
appear like a personal story of two young lovers who had ordered the murder
of a husband who was in the way. The leading aristocrats of Sardinia who were
charged with the assassination of Camarassa went into hiding, seeking refuge
first in northern Sardinia, from whence, under the protection of the duke of
Savoy, they proceeded to Livorno and Nice. On 5 July 1669, the first death sen-
tences for Zatrillas, Aymerich, the marquis of Cea, and others were announced.
The rebellion of the Sardinian nobles who had organized the murder of the
marquis of Camarassa and stained their hands with the crime of lèse majeste
could not remain unpunished. Confronted with the Savoys’ refusal to hand
over the fugitives, San Germano set a diabolical plan in motion. He hired a
noble who was guilty of various crimes in the city of Sassari to convince the
marquis and his entourage that Sardinia was ready to revolt. When they land-
ed on the island, however, Silvestro Aymerich, Don Francesco Cao, and Don
Francesco Portugues were murdered in their sleep, while the rest were dragged
in chains to Cagliari. There they were beheaded on 15 June 1671 in the pres-
ence of authorities and the populace in the Plazuela of Castello, which today
lies in the space opening onto the ancient town hall, cathedral, and viceroyal
palace. The decapitated heads of Aymerich, Cao, Portugues, and the marquis
of Cea were borne to the Tower of the Elephant, where they were placed in an
iron cage exposed to all eyes as an eloquent warning. They remained there for
17 years, removed only after the intervention of the civic council of Cagliari.27
Donna Zatrillas was able to retreat to a convent in Nice, where she died with a
reputation for sanctity.
Can this episode be reduced to a simple affair of the heart, or does it have
more profound political motives? On a historical level, certain details remain
vague, partly because the reconstruction of the course of events was distorted
by misrepresentations and the turbidity of the parties involved. Yet it is abso-
lutely clear that even if the assassination of the marquis of Laconi could be
ascribed to passion, that of Camarassa had its roots in a shattered political con-
text in which the trust and reciprocal respect that had characterized the rap-
port between the Spanish monarchy and the privileged classes of Sardinia had
already definitively broken down. True, a demand for the acknowledgment of
arbitrio de su livertad and of the privileged classes’ political rights was lurk-
ing behind the crime. However, at the same time, these classes were unable
27 Anatra, La Sardegna dall’unificazione, pp. 435–442.