Not everyone knows that the Verdi Theater was built on the rubble of a 14th-century prison. Among its illustrious “guests” were Niccolò Machiavelli and Benvenuto Cellini. Come and discover it with us.
“Oportet misereri” is the inscription that can still be read today on the plaque at the entrance to the apartment building on Via Ghibellina 101. It surmounted the only gateway to the old Stinche prison, a gateway that the Florentines called precisely “Gate of Misery.”
About five centuries of history for the largest prison in Florence. It was built in the early 14th century on land confiscated from the Uberti family. The Uberti belonged to the Ghibelline side, who were killed or driven from the city by the Guelphs. It was immediately called “delle Stinche” because it was used to detain Ghibelline prisoners captured in battle at the castle of Stinche. The castle belonged to the Cavalcanti family and was located near Greve in Chianti. Literally a prison underfoot.
Distinguished prisoners
Among the illustrious names of those imprisoned in Stinche are Giovanni Villani, a famous Florentine historian arrested for debts. Niccolò Machiavelli, accused of conspiring against the Medici, and Benvenuto Cellini, accused of sodomy, were also imprisoned. Although, for Calamandrei it was allegedly a beating of a Florentine citizen. After its closure in 1815 at the behest of Grand Duke Leopold II, the structure was deemed no longer suitable for the city. Increased attention to prisoners’ conditions began the process of transformation. It first became a building with apartments, stores, a music hall, and even a cavalry. Later, it transformed into Teatro Pagliano, inaugurated in 1854, and renamed Teatro Verdi in 1901 upon the composer’s death.
The cells and the prison
The mercy to which the plaque refers was required of Florentine citizens. Not only did the prison not enjoy public funding, but prisoners were required to pay a fee for staying inside the prison facility. A further reminder of this incitement to mercy is the 17th-century painting in the tabernacle at the corner of Via Ghibellina and Via Isola delle Stinche. It depicts Jesus Christ blessing a citizen giving alms to a prisoner. It was indeed a prison underfoot.
Better-off citizens could, by paying, maintain an acceptable regime of imprisonment, albeit commensurate with the period. Meanwhile, poorer ones were abandoned in cells lacking any minimum comfort. Only the mercy of citizens could allow them to survive. An extremely heavy regime of imprisonment, but preferable to the jail sentence imposed for the worst crimes. That sentence was hard labor as an oarsman on galleys (or galleys). However, a situation difficult to imagine in our days. Only a visit to the remains of old cells in the theater’s basement could make it more understandable, thus rethinking a prison underfoot.
