2 Most of the basic data forthis study of Le Stinche are foundin the Archivio delle Stinche in the Archivio di Stato di Firenze. These are manuscripts comprising 521 volumes, covering the period from 1343 to 1808, almost entirely untapped by historians.

Although the name Le Stinche is plural in Italian and refers to a collection of cells and buildings, I shall speak of them as a single institution or prison. This is a semantically simplified procedure and conforms to empiric reality, for the buildings had continuous physical contiguity, were surrounded by an enclosing wall, and were under one administration or legal authority.

3 There is no treatise on penology in English that mentions Le Stinche, except a brief reference by John Howard, the English penal reformer, who visited Le Stinche in the eighteenth century, in The State of the Prisons in England and Wales (London, 1792), Section IV, ‘An Account of Foreign Prisons and Hospitals’, p. 108. Among Italian penological works, the fullest discussion of Le Stinche is found in Martino Beltrani-Scalia, Sulgoverno e sulla riforma delle carceri (Torino, 1867). Two brief essays written at the time the prison was demolished in the nineteenth century are useful general descriptions but make no reference to the meaning or importance of Le Stinche in historical penology: Fruttuoso Becchi, ‘Sulle Stinche di Firenze’, L'lllustratore Fiorentino (Firenze, 1839), and Fraticelli, Pietro, Delle antiche carceri di Firenze denominate Le Stinche (Firenze, 1834)Google Scholar. In an otherwise excellent succinct treatise on the evolution of punishment, ancient prisons, and the penitentiary systems, Il digesto Italiano, enciclopedia di legislazione, dottrina e giurisprudenza (Torino, 1906-1912), XVIII, 1-17, reference to Le Stinche is missing.

4 Opere di Francesco Berni (Milano, 1887), pp. 148-149. For a similar reference to Berni's imprisonment and to the relationship between the man and his burlesque poetry, see Cian, Vittorio, Lezioni di letteratura Italiana (Torino, 1935), pp. 65–73 Google Scholar, and Saintsbury, George, The Earlier Renaissance (London, 1901), p. 138 Google Scholar.

5 Villani, Giovanni, Cronica (Firenze, 1845), IV, 187–207 Google Scholar.

6 Ibid., p. 205.

7 Otto di Guardia e Balia di Firenze, Condannati 1555-1560. No. d'ordine 2713, 28 February 1556.

8 Calamandri, P., in Il cinquecento (Firenze, 1955), p. 67 Google Scholar, refers to another offense which renders the whole question of the amount of time Cellini was imprisoned in the Stinche unclear and requires further examination: ‘Benvenuto Cellini fu imprigionato nelle Stinche a 56 anni, quando gli Otto di Guardia lo condannarono perchè nell'agosto 1556 percosse con un bastone Giovanni di Lorenzo orefice’. Cf. Uccelli, Giovan Battista, Il Palazzo del Potestà (Firenze, 1865), p. 153 Google Scholar.

9 For a careful description of this episode, see, for example, Villari, Pasquale, The Life and Times of Niccolo Machiavelli (London, 1878), II, 32–33 Google Scholar.

10 A brief composite of documentary references to the torture of Machiavelli may be found in Wolfgang, Marvin E., ‘Political Crimes and Punishments in Renaissance Florence’, Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science XLIV (1954), 566–567 Google Scholar.

11 Machiavelli, Niccolò, Opere (Milano, n.d.), p. 1076 Google Scholar.

12 Cavalcanti, Giovanni, Istorie Florentine (Firenze, 1838)Google Scholar. This edition of Cavalcanti's history is annotated with references to the fact that Cavalcanti was in the Stinche in 1427 for debt, and that he was writing the history at the time of the war against Lucca, which was between 1429 and 1430. Perrens, F. T. (Histoire de Florence, Paris, 1883, VI, 234, n. 1)Google Scholar contends that Giovanni Cavalcanti was in the Stinche until 1440.

13 Archivio delle Stinche, Archivio di Stato di Firenze, 8I, c. 12^r, 13 August 1344. See also Becchi, Fruttuoso, ‘Sulle Stinche di Firenze’, L'Illustratore Fiorentino (Firenze, 1839), p. 34 Google Scholar.

14 Landucci, Luca, Diario Fiorentino del 1450 al 1516 (Firenze, 1883)Google Scholar. Quotations from his diary are taken from the English translation, A Florentine Diary from 1450 to 1516 (London, 1927).

15 Ibid., p. 23.

16 Ibid., p. 25.

17 Ibid., pp. 105-106.

18 Ibid., p. 125.

19 Becchi, , op. cit., p. 34 Google Scholar. This author also mentions the fact that Cennino Cennini da Colle di Val d'Elsa not only was incarcerated in the Stinche, but also may have painted while there as well as written his interesting Trattato sull'arte dellapittura (ibid., pp. 67-73).

20 A good reproduction of this fresco that was once part of the Stinche walls may be found in Piero Bargellini, Aspetti minori di Firenze (Firenze, n.d.), ‘La prima immagine di Palazzo Vecchio’, p. 4. Cf. Becchi, , op. cit., pp. 70–73 Google Scholar; Gotti, Aurelio, Storia del Palazzo Vecchio in Firenze (Firenze, 1889), p. 50 Google Scholar.

21 For a careful study of this artist, see Giglioli, Edoardo H., Giovanni da San Giovanni (Giovanni Mannozzi, 1592-1636) (Firenze, 1949)Google Scholar. For a brief description of the painting and its history as well as a good reproduction of the work, see ibid., p. 21 and Tavola v; for an excellent bibliography of this artist, see pp. 202-205; see also Becchi, , op. cit., pp. 49–53 Google Scholar. Some of the Florentine guide books of the late nineteenth century make reference to this painting that was part of the exterior wall of the Stinche; for example, Susan, and Horner, Joanna, Walks in Florence (London, 1884), 1, 341 Google Scholar.

22 Fraticelli, Pietro, Delle antiche carceri di Firenze denominate Le Stinche (Firenze, 1834), p. 25 Google Scholar.

23 In the original document (see n. 24 below), the date is given as ‘1296/97 marzo 12’ in traditional Florentine form. It should be kept in mind that the Florentine calendar from the tenth century until 1749 inclusive follows the Stilo dell’Incarnazione al modofiorentino, i.e., the new year is dated from 25 March and continues until the subsequent 25 March. Hence, the period from 25 March to 31 December always corresponds to the modern calendar while the period from 1 January to 25 March is always in the Florentine style, a numerically recorded year behind the modern form. (See Cappelli, A., Cronologia, cronografia e calendario perpetuo, Milano, 1930, pp. 11–12 Google Scholar).

24 Provvisioni, Archivio di Stato di Firenze, 8, c. 51^r, entitled, ‘Super quibusdam carceribus faciendis pro Communi’.

Peripheral to our main concern with the derivation of the name of the prison is the extremely important fact for the history and evolution of penological thought that juveniles, on petition of their parents, could be placed in the new prison for purposes of correction. Extensive examination of the Archivio delle Stinche bears evidence to the fact that it was not uncommon practice during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to place children in this institution as a reformative device.

25 Bellanda referred to a detention prison situated near San Pietro Scheraggio; the name was given by the proprietor of the land. It was destroyed in 1290, according to a provision of 24July (Provvisioni, 4, c. 23; also Uccelli, G. B., Il Palazzo del Potestà, Firenze, 1865, p. 145 Google Scholar) which paid a certain Feo di Costantino for the work that he did ‘et pro destructione carceris Bellande’.

The Paliazze were cells near the market of San Pietro, where a palazzo named Pagliazzo was located. Only the nobility were placed in these prisons, which were eliminated in 1282.

The Burelle were also privately owned prisons rented by the commune, principally for temporary custody of political offenders. Situated in those quarters of the city known as Sant'Apollinare, San Firenze, and near San Simone, they are known to have existed at least from 1260 ( Beltrani-Scalia, , op. cit., p. 265 Google Scholar). Referring to the fact that the name Burelle is derived from buro, meaning ‘dark place’, Beltrani-Scalia cites Dante, who says in Canto XXXIV of the Inferno:

Regarding Volognano, see note 72.

26 Provvisioni, 10, c. 165^v-166^v, 7 November 1299: ‘Carceres edificentur super terreno olim Ubertorum iuxta portam Ghibellinam’.

27 Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia, Canto x.

28 Panella, Antonio, Storia di Firenze (Firenze, 1949), pp. 44–45 Google Scholar.

29 Provvisioni, II, c. 85^r, 24 November 1301. This provision should end some of the contradictions regarding the date of construction. Cf. Staley, Edgcumbe, The Guilds of Florence (London, 1906), p. 89 Google Scholar; Hyett, Francis A., Florence, Her History and Art to the Fall of the Republic (London, 1903), p. 75 Google Scholar; Machiavelli, , History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy (London, 1901), p. 73 Google Scholar; Fraticelli, , op. cit., p. 12 Google Scholar; Becchi, , op. cit., p. 28 Google Scholar. It is obvious from the above mentioned-provision that Fraticelli's reference to July 1304 as the date when construction of the Stinche began is erroneous. Becchi, however, cites the correct date.

30 Relative to crime and punishment among these groups in Florence, see Wolfgang, ‘Political Crimes and Punishments in Renaissance Florence’, cited in note 10.

31 The account of this episode can be found in any standard history of Florence. I am especially indebted to Schevill, Ferdinand, A History of Florence from the Founding of the City through the Renaissance (London, 1936), pp. 173–175 Google Scholar, and Trevelyan, Janet Penrose, A Short History of the Italian People (New York, 1956), pp. 132–133 Google Scholar.

32 Schevill, , op. cit., p. 174 Google Scholar.

33 Villani, Cronica, Lib. VIII, Cap. LXIX; Ammirato, Scipione, Istorie Florentine, Lib. IV (Firenze, 1647), p. 229 Google Scholar.

34 Ibid., and Rastrelli, Modesto, Priorista Fiorentino istorko (Firenze, 1782), 1, 52 Google Scholar.

35 For a good reproduction of the coat of arms of the Cavalcanti family see Cantini, Lorenzo, Saggi istorici d'antichità Toscane (Firenze, 1798), IX, 77.Google Scholar

36 Beltrani-Scalia, , op. cit., p. 268 Google Scholar, gives 1319 as the date of completion of construction. As late as 26 March 1319 money was still being appropriated for construction of the prison (Uccelli, op.cit., p. 146).

37 The sacking of Le Stinche during the uprising against the Duke of Athens is mentioned by many historians. See, for example, the accounts by Pietro Buoninsegni, M., Historia Fiorentina (Firenze, 1581), pp. 349–356 Google Scholar; Capponi, Gino, Storia della repubblica di Firenze (Firenze, 1875), 1, 206 Google Scholar; Gotti, Aurelio, Storia del Palazzo Vecchio (Firenze, 1889), PP. 54–55.Google Scholar

38 The earliest date found among the commitment records of the Archivio delle Stinche is 16 October 1343, in volume 81 in the last inventory of the archives, under Carcerati, which reads: ‘Registro in foglio intitolato: Liber continens in se omnes et singulos carceratos in Stincis et carceribus Comunis Florentiae recommendatos … ac etiam eorum recommendationes, extagimenta et causas et quantitates pro quibus venerunt descripti et recommendati fuerunt’ (Archivio delle Stinche, ‘Inventario del Magistrato dei Soprastanti alle Stinche’).

39 Villani (Lib. VIII, Cap. LXXV, pp. 96-97) is very explicit about this matter: ‘Nel detto anno (1304) e mese d’Agosto, essendo la città di Firenze retta per le dodici podestadi, ordinarono oste per perseguitare i bianchi e’ ghibellini, i quali aveano ribellate più fortezze e castella nel contado di Firenze, e intra gli altri era rubellato il castello delle Stinche in Valdigrieve a petizione de’ Cavalcanti, al quale andò la detta oste, e puoservi I'assedio e combatterlo, e per patti s'arrendero pregioni, e ‘1 castello fu disfatto, e’ pregioni ne furono menati in Firenze, e messi nella nuova pregione fatta per lo comune in su ‘1 disagreeterreno degli Uberti di costa a san Simone, e per lo nome di que’ pregioni venuti dalle Stinche, che furono i primi che vi furono messi, la detta pregione ebbe nome le Stinche.’

40 In the prologue to the first book of Cavalcanti's Istorie Florentine (pp. 1-2) we read: ‘Questo nome Stinche da noi medesimi derivò; conciossia cosa che, essendoci disfatte le Stinche, tra la valle di Greve e la valle di Pesa la quale per la nostra famiglia si teneva, erano murate di nuovo le infernali carceri e cosi fummo i primi prigioni che ad abitare le cominciammo, venendo della detta fortezza, l'università della plebela chiamano le Stinche.’

41 Machiavelli, , op. cit., p. 73 Google Scholar.

42 After discussing the Castello delle Stinche of the Cavalcanti family, Buoninsegni (pp. 122-123) remarks: ‘Et perche furono i primi che vi furono in prigionati, pero il luogo e stato sempre nominato le Stinche ‘

43 Lungo, Isidoro del, Dino Compagni e la sua cronica (Firenze, 1879), II, 292 Google Scholar, note 36.

44 In 1647 Ammirato (I, Lib. IV, p. 229) refers to this episode as follows: ‘Era già venuto il tempo di creare il nuovo Gonfaloniere, perciò fú chiamàto in quel luogo Bartolìno Alberti; il quale co’ Priori, e con le dodici podestà vegendo i disordini seguìti pensò esser tempo, che si desse opera à trovare a tanti mali alcun rimedio; e sopra tutto parve che si dovesse attendere à ricuperar molti luoghi; i quali in quelli scompìgli da Bianchi, e Ghibellìni erano stati ribellàti. Fu dunque subitament comandáto, che si mettesse in ordine l’hoste, e il primo castello, che si deliberò di espugnarsi furono le Stinche castello de Cavalcanti posto in Val di Grieve, il quale havendo aspettáto alcuna battaglia, alia conoscendo esser messa in darno ogni fatìca, s'arrenderono per prigioni. II castello fú disfatto, e essi in Firenze condotti, e messi nelle nuove prigioni fatte dalla Repùblica in sul terréno degli Ubèrti di costa à San Simone, diedono il nome della patria loro alle carceri; le quali insino à questi dí son dette le Stinche.'

45 ‘Fra questi castelli primo fu quello delle Stinche, rebellatosi per opera dei Cavalcanti. Esso venne facilmente preso (agosto 1304), e i prigionieri furono condotti nelle carceri nuove, che d’allora in poi si chiamarono le Stinche’ ( Villari, Pasquale, I primi due secoli della storiadi Firenze, Firenze, 1905, p. 474 Google Scholar).

46 Varchi, Benedetto, Storia Fiorentina (Firenze, 1838), II, 103 Google Scholar.

47 Davidsohn, Robert, Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz (Berlin, 1908), IV, 525 Google Scholar; Firenze ai tempi di Dante (Firenze, 1929), p . 96.

48 Perrens, F.-T., Histoire de Florence (Paris, 1877), III, 104–105 Google Scholar.

49 Cf. Lapini, Agostino, Diario Fiorentino del 252 al 1596 (Firenze, 1900), pp. 15–16 Google Scholar, who claims the Castello delle Stinche was captured on 15 April 1304; Pitti, Buonaccorso, Cronica (Bologna, 1905), p. 112 Google Scholar; Cronichette antiche di vari scrittori, ‘Annali di Simone della Tosa’ (Firenze, 1733), p . 158; Mecatti, Giuseppe Maria, Storia genealogica della nobilità, e cittadinanza di Firenze (Napoli, 1754), p. 42 Google Scholar; Vincenzio Borghini, D., Discorsi (Firenze, 1755), P. 123 Google Scholar; Lami, Giovanni, Lezioni di antichità Toscana e specialmente della città di Firenze (Firenze, 1766), pp. 354, 374, 410Google Scholar; Rastrelli, op. cit., 1, 53; Firenze antica, e moderna (Firenze, 1795), VI, 65-66; Fraticelli, op. cit., pp. 11-12; Reumont, Alfredo, Tavole cronologiche e sincrone della storia Fiorentina (Firenze, 1841)Google Scholar, under date of 1304; Repetti, Emanuele, Dizionario geografico fisico storico della Toscana (Firenze, 1843), v, 476 Google Scholar; Fantozzi, Federigo, Pianta geometrica (Firenze, 1845), pp. 166–167 Google Scholar; Beltrani-Scalia, op. cit., p. 268; Peruzzi, S. L., Storia del commercio e dei banchieri di Firenze (Firenze, 1868), p. 44 Google Scholar; Capponi, op. cit., 1, 117; Hartwig, Otto, Ältesten Geschichte der Stadt Florenz (Marburg, 1880), 11, 294 Google Scholar; Falletti-Fossati, Carlo, Il tumulto dei Ciompi (Firenze, 1882), p. 119 Google Scholar; Guarducci, Torquato, Guida illustrata della Val di Pesa (Sancasciano, 1904), pp. 55–56 Google Scholar; Limburger, Walther von, Die Gebdude von Florenz (Leipzig, 1910), p. 163 Google Scholar; Lungo, Isidoro del, I Bianchi e i Neri (Milano, 1921), p. 349 Google Scholar; Conti, Giuseppe, Firenze vecchia (Firenze, 1928), 11, 65 Google Scholar; Marinis, Tammaro de, Due fogli volanti sconosciuti del secolo XV (estratto dal volume Studi e richerche sulla storia della stampa del quattrocento, Milano, 1942), p. 5, n. 4Google Scholar.

50 Villani, Cronica, Lib. VIII, Cap. LXXV, pp. 96-97.

51 Villari, op. cit., p. 474.

52 Cavalcanti, op. cit., pp. 1-2.

53 Reumont, op. cit., under the date of 1304.

54 Rastrelli, op. cit., 1, 53.

55 Fraticelli, op. cit., pp. 11-12. Beltrani-Scalia, an otherwise careful scholar, gives an incorrect year, 1303, for this whole occurrence (p. 268).

56 Fraticelli (op. cit., pp. 11-12) makes the absurd statement that the prison was constructed within a two-month period before prisoners first arrived in September 1304.

57 Guarducci, op. cit., pp. 55-56; Repetti, , Dizionario, III, 330 Google Scholar and v, 476. The Castello delle Stinche was seized in August 1304 and undoubtedly suffered some damage at that time. However, not until 1452 was it burned and presumably destroyed. See Domenico di Lionardo Boninsegni, Storie della citta di Firenze dull'anno 1410 al 1460 (Firenze, 1637), p. 101. ‘Distrutto’, however, does not necessarily connote total destruction or obliteration. Today the ground known as Stinche Alto and the knoll ﹛poggio tondo) on which the castello presumably was located are owned by Ing. Giorgio Socci, from Lamoli. An eighteenth-century handmade map in the possession of Ing. Socci clearly shows the outlines of this property and the position of the hill. The author made an excursion to this land in June 1958, and a cursory examination reveals the remains of an old building, now in a state of disuse and disrepair, whose ground floor, fortifying wall, oven, and fireplace may date from the fourteenth or early fifteenth century. The additions above the ground floor are obviously much later, even contemporary. This is probably the only building remaining in this general area of the castello, and although these remains cannot be labeled the Castello delle Stinche, they may have been a portion of the group of buildings that constituted the Cavalcanti stronghold. Further examination under the scrutiny of an architectural historian specializing in medieval castelli is necessary to determine the age of the present ruins that stand unattended on this isolated poggio tondo near Panzano in Chianti.

58 Niccolò Tommaseo and Bernardo Bellini suggest: ‘Altri forse dal ted. Stengel, gambale, pedale, tronco, o dal celt. gall. Stang, stecco brocco’ (Dizionario della lingua Italiana, Torino, 1872, IV, 1216). Nicola Zingarelli gives the root as a fusion of the Longobardian skinko and of stecco (Vocabolario della lingua Italiana, Bologna, 1957, p. 1537). It should be recalled that the Lombards were one of the Teutonic tribes that invaded and settled in the Po Valley between 568 and 774.

59 Tommaseo and Bellini, op. cit., IV, 1216.

60 Ibid. Emphasis added.

61 Ibid., p. 1217. Emphasis added.

62 VI, 374.

63 Pieri, Silvio, Toponomastica della Valle dell' Arno (Rome, 1919), p. 328 Google Scholar.

64 Repetti, Dizionario, III, 330.

65 Accademia della Crusca, Firenze.

66 Tommaseo and Bellini, op. cit., IV, 1216.

67 Frizzi, Giuseppe, Dizionario dei frizzetti popolari Fiorentini (Città di Castello, 1890), p. 235 Google Scholar.

68 Ibid.

69 Ibid., p. 236.

70 Flamini, Francesco, La lirica Toscana del Rinascimento (Pisa, 1891), p. 546 Google Scholar.

71 Schevill, op. cit., p. 230.

72 See note 25. Beltrani-Scalia, op. cit., p. 266, says:’ verso il 1267 in una delle torri vi fu tenuto Geri da Volognano si vuole che da lui quel carcere abbia preso il nome di Volognano'.

73 Gotti, op. cit., pp. 76-77.

74 For some data on the measurements and the general physical plant of the prison, see Becchi, op. cit., pp. 41-48, and Fraticelli, op. cit., pp. 18-22.

75 Archivio delle Stinche, vol. 81 (16 ottobre 1343-31 marzo 1346) to vol. 126 (20 maggio 1515-23 maggio 1520), et passim.

76 Not always was the name used officially in other cities, but the populace referred to their local prison by this name.

77 See note 57.

78 Provvisioni, 12, c. 107, 28 February 1305. In general, this provision states that the superintendents of the prison must pay the amounts which debtors, imprisoned in the Stinche, owe their creditors should such debtors escape from the prison.

79 Archivio delle Stinche, 81, c. 3^r , 16 October 1343.

80 Provvisioni, 12, c. I49r, 4 May 1305.

81 Guccerelli, Demetrio, Stradario storico hiografico della città di Firenze (Firenze, 1928) pp. 258–259 Google Scholar.

82 There are contradictions among major sources regarding the date when Leopold 11 approved the sale and the date of destruction of the prison. Presumably both the sale and demolition occurred during the same year. Reference to 1833 may be found in: Fraticelli, op. cit., p. 37; Guccerelli, op. cit., p. 259; Limburger, op. tit., p. 163; Bigazzi, op. tit., p. 251; Fantozzi, , Piantageometrica, p. 167 Google Scholar; in the sketch (referred to in n. 83) found in the Museo Storico Topografico, Firenze Com'Era, Firenze. Reference to 1835 may be found in: Becchi, op. cit., p. 77; Beltrani-Scalia, op. cit., p. 437; Peri, Carlo, Notizie sulla riforma delle prigioni in Toscana (Firenze, 1850), p. 207 Google Scholar. The weight of reliable evidence available to the author, including the fact that Fraticelli described the new building replacing the prison in 1834, indicates that the correct date is 1833.

83 For several sketches and plans of the prison see: ‘Le Stinche. Le Carceri delle Stinche, Demolite nel 1833’, No. 101120, Ignoto Sec. XIX and ‘Antiche Stinche. Le Carceri delle Stinche’, No. 16501, Emilio Burci (1811-1877), both in the Museo Storico Topografico, Firenze Com'Era, Piazza S. Maria Nuova, No. 21, Firenze; Giuseppe Bomto e Attilio Mori, Firenze nelle vedute epiante (Firenze, 1926), pp. 8-9, where there are reproductions of two drawings of Le Stinche prison from Cod. Vaticano lat. n. 5699, a. 1469, and Cod. Vaticano-Urbinate n. 277, a. 1472. See also Guido Biagi, The Private Life of the Renaissance Florentine (Firenze, 1896), p. 60, where appears an engraving from Politian's Conjurationis Pactianae commentarium (Firenze, 1769), 127.