Piazza del Mercato

Naples · Italy · Execution site

As Conradin's head fell an eagle dropped out of the air, dipped a wing in the blood and flew north — a promise of vengeance.

The square by the harbour was Naples's place of execution for six hundred years. Here in 1268 Conradin of Swabia, sixteen years old and the last of the Hohenstaufen, was beheaded before a silent crowd. Legend says that at that moment an eagle dropped out of the air, dipped one wing in the blood on the scaffold and rose away to the north — an omen that vengeance was crossing the Alps. The square carried its own ghosts forward from there: in 1647 the fishmonger Masaniello was proclaimed leader of the people here and beheaded ten days later, his head carried through the alleys, and in 1799 the Jacobins of the Neapolitan Republic died in the same sand. Neapolitans say the condemned never left. Two obelisk fountains still stand on the otherwise open square.

FAQ

Where is Piazza del Mercato located?

Piazza del Mercato is in Neapel, Italy.

More haunted places in Neapel

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.