ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Palermo riots 1560

Synopsis
On 23 September a popular revolt broke out as a protest against the municipal council´s intention to increase the taxes on basic consumer products (bread, oil and cheese), so as to address the deficit of the public treasure. Firstly, Minicio Morello from the tailors´guild led the protest and mobilized other artisans, small merchants, and townspeople to force a negotiation with the authorities to guarantee the supply of grain at a fair price and to avoid the imposition of new excises on commerce and food products. On 26, a charismatic notary, Cataldo Tarsino, led a group of 200-300 armed people who assembled in the central streets of Palermo and acted with violence against some nobles and knights linked to the urban government. Measures taken by the city government in the preceding months had harmed both the interests of Tarsino's factional group and those of the artisans who firstly lead popular discontent. Through popular collective mobilization and violent actions, they sought to force a change of course in urban policies and to expand the spaces for participation in citizen political life. Since the viceroy and his troops were in Messina and the praetor had fled from Palermo at the beginning of the revolt, the noblemen, particularly the Count of Vicari, led the negotiation with the rioters, the repression and the restoration of public order in the city.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 1 week. Name in sources: Revuelta de Palermo. Location: Palermo Country (current): Italy. Monarchy: Spanish. Main participants: Artisans, Others. Number of participants: 250-500. Main reasons & motivations: Fiscal, Others. Leadership: Vinicio Morello and Cataldo Tarsino. Relevance: low.

Further reading
CANCILLA, Rossella (1999). Il pane e la política. La rivolta palermitana del 1560. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane. RIBOT GARCÍA, Luis (2008). “Revueltas urbanas en Sicilia (siglos XVI-XVII)”, in J. I. Fortea, J. E. Gelabert (eds), Ciudades en conflicto (siglos XVI-XVIII). Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León - Marcial Pons Historia, pp. 337-370.
Cite this entry

(2023) "Palermo riots 1560", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. (accessed on ).