This is a list of people executed in the Papal States under the government of the Popes or during the 1810–1819 decade of French rule. Although capital punishment in Vatican City was legal from 1929 to 1969, no executions took place in that time. This list does not include people executed by other authorities of the Roman Catholic Church or those executed by Inquisitions other than the Roman Inquisition, or those killed in wars involving the Papal States, or those killed extrajudicially.
Most executions were related to the punishment of civil crimes committed within the Papal States, with the condemned convicted within the civil courts of the Papal States; for example, in 1585, Pope Sixtus V initiated a "zero tolerance" crackdown on crime, which according to legend resulted in more severed heads collected on the Castel Sant'Angelo bridge than melons in the Roman markets. The best records are from the tenure of Giovanni Battista Bugatti, the executioner of the Papal States between March 22, 1796 and August 17, 1861, who recorded the name of the condemned, the crime, and the location of the execution for each of the 516 "justices" he performed for the governments, papal or French. Bugatti's list ends: "So ends the long list of Bugatti. May that of his successor be shorter".
Before 1816, the most common methods of execution were the axe and noose (with burning at the stake used in high profile instances); after 1816, the guillotine (installed by the French during their control of Rome) became the norm. However, after 1816, two other methods—the mazzatello (crushing of the head with a large mallet, followed by a cutting of the throat) and drawing and quartering (sometimes, but not always, after a hanging)—continued to be used for crimes that were considered "especially loathsome".
The execution sites of choice were the Ponte Sant'Angelo, the bridge in front of the Castel Sant'Angelo, the Piazza del Popolo, and Via dei Cerchi near the Piazza della Bocca della Verita. Papal law prescribed a payment of only three cents of the Roman lira per execution for the executioner to "mark the vileness of his work" but did not prohibit the free lodging, tax concessions, and large pension awarded to Bugatti.
List of people executed by the Holy See
The date in parentheses is the date of the execution.
12th century
Arnold of Brescia, monk and participant in the Commune of Rome (1155)
13th century
Gerard Segarelli, founder of the Apostolic Brethren (July 18, 1300)
14th century
Fra Dolcino, Italian preacher of the Dulcinian movement (1304)
15th century
Astorre I Manfredi, Italian condottiero (November 28, 1405) Matteuccia de Francesco, Italian nun and alleged "Witch of Ripabianca" (1428) Antongaleazzo Bentivoglio, Italian condottiero (1435) Eighteen thieves who robbed and killed Holy Year pilgrims (August 27, 1500) Note: Girolamo Savonarola, Domenico da Pescia and Fra Silvestro executed in Florence (May 23, 1498) were condemned by a Florentine court. Similarly, Pietro Bernardino, a follower of Savonarola, was condemned and executed at Mirandola (1502).
16th century
Cardinal Alfonso Petrucci, convicted of plotting against Pope Leo X (July 16, 1517) Gian Paolo Baglioni, Italian condottiero (June 1520) Cardinal Carlo Carafa and Giovanni Carafa, Duke of Paliano, nephews of Paul IV, sentenced to strangulation in prison and beheading, respectively, by Pius IV, as his first public act (March 5, 1561) Pomponio Algerio, civil law student at the University of Padua (1566) Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (October 1, 1567) Aonio Paleario, Italian Protestant (July 3, 1570) Menocchio, Friulian miller, mayor, and philosopher (1599) Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman convicted of murder (September 11, 1599)
Giordano Bruno, Italian priest, philosopher, cosmologist, and occultist (February 17, 1600)
17th century
Ferrante Pallavicino, Italian satirist (March 5, 1644) Girolama Spera, daughter and accomplice of Giulia Tofana (5 July 1659) Assistants and clients of the poison-maker Giulia Tofana (5 July 1659)