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Hangman’s nooses
These nooses, or what remains of them, were used to perform some hangings in the city of Alessandria. When the execution had taken place, the nooses were collected by the Confraternity of San Giovanni Decollato and jealously guarded, along with the dead man’s personal effects, in a locked drawer.
From 1871 onwards it became the custom to burn one of these nooses every year on 28 August, the eve of the feast day of St. John the Baptist. The ceremony was performed publicly, in Piazza Ponte Tanaro, next to the church, just as the executions were. On the same day and in the same place items belonging to the confraternity (alms-boxes, stamps, zinc cups, the confraternity banner, executioner’s gloves) were displayed until 1911.
At the time of the last execution (23 January 1873) eighteen nooses were still held by the confraternity. When it was disbanded in 1913 and the building that it owned was sold, the objects were kept at the Church of Santo Stefano, and subsequently donated to the Criminology Museum in 1933.
Provenance: Alessandria, Confraternity of San Giovanni Decollato, 1933
These nooses were used to hang
the following condemned prisoners:
Bressi Giovanni Antonio from Castelceriolo, aged 21, guilty
of barbarous matricide. Hanged on 28 March 1828.
Gagino Pietro Giuseppe from Cassine, aged 35, cook, guilty of
armed revolt against the police, armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms.
Hanged on 19 February 1851.
Lingua Giuseppe from Bassignano, aged 22, apprentice miller,
guilty of various robberies and murders. Hanged on 25 May 1853.
Salvato Giuseppe from Visone (Aqui), aged 27, guilty of various
robberies and murders. Hanged on 25 May 1853.
Sella Alessandro from Tortona, aged 38, guilty of waylaying
and the premeditated murder of his wife Rosa Ponti in the city of Alessandria.
Hanged on 29 March 1856.
Santi Urbano from Sessano, aged 30, guilty of patricide. Hanged
on 17 June 1864.
Malaspina Giuseppe from Vezze, aged 48, innkeeper, guilty of
robbery and murder, and causing the death of Teresa Botto, her son Giuseppe and
his wife Teresa Frassini. Hanged on 28 May 1864.
