Girolamo Pietraperzia Barresi (c.1502 – 15 March 1549) was a Sicilian nobleman, marquis or prince of

Pietraperzia Pietraperzia ( Sicilian: ''Petrapirzia'') is a ''comune'' in the province of Enna, in Sicilian region of southern Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. I ...

, who was decapitated in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

after a prolonged process for the crime of murder and parricide. His sentence for the murder of his father, Matteo Barresi, and two servants in 1533 was based on a confession obtained under torture. His sentence was initially commuted by Holy Roman emperor Charles V, after extracting some hefty fines, but the new viceroy Juan de Vega ultimately enforced the death sentence. He was buried in the church of

San Domenico, Palermo San Domenico (''Saint Dominic'') is a Baroque architecture, Baroque-style Roman Catholic church, located on Piazza San Domenico, Palermo, Piazza San Domenico, and located in the ancient Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Castellammare ...

. Girolamo was one of the patrons of the mathematician and astronomer

Francesco Maurolico Francesco Maurolico (Latin: ''Franciscus Maurolycus''; Italian: ''Francesco Maurolico''; gr, Φραγκίσκος Μαυρόλυκος, 16 September 1494 - 21/22 July 1575) was a mathematician and astronomer from Sicily. He made contributions t ...

. Girolamo had two children with Antonina, member of the Branciforte and Santapau families. Pietro died without progeny. His daughter, Dorotea Barresi e Santapau, after widowing twice, including Giovanni III Ventimiglia, she married the new viceroy of Naples

Juan de Zúñiga y Requesens Juan de Zúñiga y Requesens, deceased 1586, was Viceroy of Naples, 1579–1582. He was the sixth child of Juan de Zúñiga Avellaneda y Velasco (circa 1490 – 1546), Philip II's tutor, and Estefanía de Requesens y Rois de Liori (d. 1549), and ...

. She then moved to Spain where she participated in the upbringing of King Philip V of Spain.Enciclopedia Treccani
article by Nicoletta Bazzano - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 83 (2015).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barresi 1502 births 1549 deaths Sicilian nobility People executed by decapitation 16th-century Sicilian people