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Mazzatello (abbreviated mazza) was a method of capital punishment used by the Papal States from the late 18th century to 1870.^[1][2] The method was named after the implement used in the execution: a large, long-handled mallet or pole-ax.^[1] According to Abbott, mazzatello constituted "one of the most brutal methods of execution ever devised, requiring minimal skill on the part of the executioner and superhuman acquiescence by the victim".^[2] Megivern cites mazzatello as one example of an execution method devised by the Papal States that "competed with and in some instances surpassed those of other regimes for cruelty".^[1]

The condemned would be led to a scaffold in a public square of Rome, accompanied by a priest (the confessor of the condemned^[2]); the platform also contained a coffin and the masked executioner, dressed in black.^[1] A prayer would first be said for the condemned's soul.^[2] Then, the mallet would be raised, and swung in the air to gain momentum, and then brought down on the head of the prisoner, similar to a contemporary method of slaughtering cattle in stockyards.^[1] Because this procedure could merely stun the condemned rather than killing him instantly, the throat of the prisoner would then be slit with a knife.^[1][3] Most often, the condemned was merely knocked unconscious.^[4]

Along with drawing and quartering (sometimes, but not always, after a hanging), mazzatello was reserved for crimes that were considered "especially loathsome".^[5]

Notes