Giovanni di Giovanni (c. 1350 – 7 May 1365?) was one of the youngest victims of the campaign against

sodomy Sodomy () or buggery (British English) is generally anal or oral sex between people, or sexual activity between a person and a non-human animal ( bestiality), but it may also mean any non- procreative sexual activity. Originally, the term ''sodo ...

waged in 14th-century

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. The prosecution came on the heels of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, the

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the plague bacterium (''Yersinia pestis''). One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and vomiting, as well a ...

epidemic which had ravaged the city two years earlier. Some of the most influential people of the religious establishment blamed sodomites for having brought the wrath of God down on the heads of the populace. The "remedy" they promoted was to purify the city of evil by means of fire, leading to burnings at the stake and other punishments (red-hot iron) such as that suffered by Giovanni di Giovanni. Di Giovanni was labelled "a public and notorious passive sodomite" and convicted by the

Podestà Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...

court of being the passive partner of a number of different men. His punishment was to be paraded on the back of an ass, then to be publicly castrated. Finally, he was to have his anus burned with a red-hot iron (or, as the sentence read: " unishedin that part of the body where he allowed himself to be known in sodomitical practice"); it is presumed he did not survive the ordeal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giovanni, Giovanni Di 1350s births 1365 deaths 14th-century executions Executed Italian people Italian gay men 14th-century LGBT people People executed for sodomy People executed by Florence People from the Metropolitan City of Florence People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws Italian children Executed children People executed by burning

See also

References