August 14, 1480 Otranto, Italy Following a 15-day siege, 813 men are beheaded for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam The siege began with Ottoman forces attacking Otranto, which was well equipped to guard against them, but only temporarily. Once the army was able to force their way into the city, the "archbishop was…
August 12, 1944 Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Tuscany, Italy Nazis murder 560 locals and refugees, including 130 children In the span of 3 hours, the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division rounded up all locals, locking them in barns or stables. They then took groups of captives to shoot with machine guns or at point-blank range, or brought…
July 19, 1992 Palermo, Sicily, Italy Anti-mafia magistrate Paolo Borsellino is assassinated by a remote-controlled car bomb In the early evening of July 19, Borsellino arrived at his mother’s apartment building to bring her to a doctor’s appointment. As he and several of his body guards approached the building, a car bomb was detonated remotely.…
June 21, 1475 Trent, Prince-Bishopric of Trent (modern-day Trento, Italy) Four Jews are burned at the stake or beheaded for the alleged murder of a 2-year-old Christian boy The boy, Simon of Trent, was supposedly found in the cellar of a Jewish family's house. However, another account mentions Simon’s body being discovered in a ditch.…
May 31, 455 Rome, Italy Emperor Petronius Maximus is assassinated two and a half months after assuming the throne It was speculated that Petronius had a hand in the murder of the previous emperor, Valentinian III. One of those who suspected his involvement in the assassination was his widow, Licinia Eudoxia, whom Petronius married to…
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