In front of you is an ordinary street corner with a modern building. Nothing suggests at first glance that for almost a century and a half a monument to shame stood here: the Colonna Infame, the Column of Infamy.

1The plague and the untori

In 1630 plague was ravaging Milan. Rumour spread that «untori», anointers, were smearing poisonous ointments on walls to spread the disease. A woman claimed she had seen the health commissioner Guglielmo Piazza rubbing the walls. Arrested and tortured, Piazza ended up accusing the barber Gian Giacomo Mora, who lived here, of making the ointments for him. Under torture, both men confessed. They were executed with extreme cruelty.

2The column of infamy

The court ordered Mora's house to be razed and an «infamous» column raised on the site so that no one would ever build there again. A Latin inscription dated 1 August 1630 explained the sentence. The column fell on the night of 24-25 August 1778, in the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria. The original inscription is now kept in the Castello Sforzesco.

Alessandro Manzoni told the story of this trial in «The Column of Infamy» to show how torture and fear manufacture culprits.

In 2005 a bronze sculpture and a plaque remembering Mora as an innocent victim were placed on this corner.

3What to look for

  • The bronze plaque, which speaks of a man «unjustly tortured».
  • The sculpture in the recess of the façade.
  • The street name, now dedicated to the condemned barber.
Latin inscription of 1630 ordering the Colonna Infame to be raised
The original inscription, now in the Castello Sforzesco.
17th-century engraving showing the Colonna Infame and the sentence inscription
The column and inscription in an engraving from the plague years.

Documented

Guglielmo Piazza and Gian Giacomo Mora were condemned in 1630 as plague-spreaders; the column was raised on the site of Mora's house and fell in 1778.

Sources and credits

Alessandro Manzoni, «Storia della colonna infame» (1840); Pietro Verri, «Osservazioni sulla tortura» (written 1777); Musei del Castello Sforzesco, Colonna Infame inscription.

Photos:

  • Bronze plaque recalling the house of the barber Gian Giacomo Mora: Lalupa, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • Latin inscription of 1630 ordering the Colonna Infame to be raised: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0.
  • 17th-century engraving showing the Colonna Infame and the sentence inscription: Autor desconocido (grabado de hacia 1630), Dominio público.

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