{"id":2459,"date":"2024-10-10T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T05:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/?p=2459"},"modified":"2024-10-06T02:13:20","modified_gmt":"2024-10-06T00:13:20","slug":"a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/it\/2024\/10\/10\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"A second life of an assassin in Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Florence
Florence Free tour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Around the year 1570, in Florence, there lived a man named Vincenzo di Zanobi Serzelli, who outwardly appeared to be a respectable citizen, but, as subsequent events revealed, harbored diabolical thoughts. I call him respectable because, as an elderly man named Giulio Ruoti, who died about five years ago at the age of over eighty, told me, Vincenzo used to frequent reputable circles, particularly that of San Niccol\u00f2, known as del Ceppo. In this confraternity, Serzelli never entered without kneeling on the ground, and during public processions, he desired to be the one to carry the crucifix. He always showed great outward devotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also heard from reliable sources that, as a young man, Serzelli worked in the shop of a wool merchant, a civil and respectable occupation at the time. In this shop, he formed a close friendship with a young wool worker named Matteo di Bartolomeo Santini, a person of good manners and from a good family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were joined, in an unclear way, by a third individual of more modest standing, whose name I have not been able to discover. He might have been a servant or a messenger in the service of some magistrate, so I will call him the “Unknown.” The three men began to associate frequently, attending dinners, gambling, and visiting houses of women. Being poor and living beyond their means, they soon found themselves in financial difficulty. It was then that Serzelli, the oldest of the group, said: “Anyone with a brain is never without money. I\u2019ve never lacked it, and you won\u2019t either if you follow my advice.” When asked how to obtain money easily, Serzelli openly admitted that in the past, he had resorted to stealing what he needed for his desires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To justify his actions, he added, “God and nature created wealth for the benefit of humanity. Whoever needs it should take it. Those who possess more than we do have only taken our share in addition to theirs. Depriving them of some of their wealth is not stealing, it is merely reclaiming what is rightfully ours.” With these arguments, Serzelli led the two young men to lose all moral scruples. They began by stealing small items and gradually moved on to larger thefts, becoming the most skilled thieves in Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, they were discovered and arrested. After a long imprisonment and several interrogations, Matteo Santini confessed to the crimes and was sentenced to death. Serzelli, on the other hand, withstood the torture and seemed destined to escape the sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on the day of the execution, while being led to the gallows, Santini declared, “I will not accept my sentence without Serzelli by my side. He is the real mastermind behind all our crimes.” This statement led to further investigations, and the murder of the Unknown was uncovered: he had been strangled and buried in a tomb in the cemetery of Santa Croce. During these new investigations, Serzelli also confessed. He admitted to the murder of the Unknown and revealed that he had killed another man, a certain Rapetta, the son of a butcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He strangled him with a rope after seeing him withdraw a sum of money, thinking he could rob him. When he realized the money was not at home, Serzelli staged a fake suicide by hanging the corpse from a beam and leaving a stool at his feet, to make it appear as if he had hanged himself out of despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, both Serzelli and Santini were sentenced to death. They were taken to the gallows in a cart that passed through Florence’s main streets. A servant, holding a staff, carried a sign that read: “Counterfeiters, murderers, and famous thieves.” The gallows were set up in Via Ghibellina, at the intersection with Via dei Buonfanti (now Via de’ Pepi), near Serzelli\u2019s house, where he and Santini had killed the Unknown. Here, the executioner carried out their sentence, first executing Serzelli, then Santini.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

n the late 16th century, Vincenzo di Zanobi Serzelli, a seemingly devout citizen of Florence, led a double life as a notorious criminal. While presenting himself as a pious member of the San Niccol\u00f2 confraternity, Serzelli, along with his friends Matteo di Bartolomeo Santini and an unnamed accomplice, descended into a world of theft and deception. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2244,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":5,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,3,6,27,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-city-tour","category-free-tour","category-free-walking-tour","category-historic-tour","category-history","category-tour","latest_post"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"it","enabled_languages":["en","es","zh","it"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":true},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"zh":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"it":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"yoast_head":"\nA second life of an assassin in Florence - Best Free Tour<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/2024\/10\/10\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A second life of an assassin in Florence - Best Free Tour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/2024\/10\/10\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best Free Tour\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-10T05:20:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bestfreetour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/luther-memorial-2443775_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Scritto da\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tempo di lettura stimato\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minuti\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/27a41c38b6389f8770e914c93a1b07cb\"},\"headline\":\"A second life of an assassin in Florence\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-10T05:20:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":671,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/luther-memorial-2443775_1280.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"City Tour\",\"Free Tour\",\"Free Walking Tour\",\"Historic Tour\",\"History\",\"Tour\"],\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/\",\"name\":\"A second life of an assassin in Florence - Best Free Tour\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/10\\\/a-second-life-of-an-assassin-in-florence\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bestfreetour.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/luther-memorial-2443775_1280.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-10T05:20:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"n the late 16th century, Vincenzo di Zanobi Serzelli, a seemingly devout citizen of Florence, led a double life as a notorious criminal. 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