Hebrew-English Guide to Soncino

63 THE LEGENDS A LEGENDARY ESCAPE On 24th September 1501, Giovanni de Joppis is locked in the under- ground prison of the Fortress: he is sentenced to the death penalty for a violent murder he committed against the owner of an agricul- tural field where he used to work as a farm labourer. The hanging will take place the following Tuesday, on the day of the market, in order to give an exemplary punishment and a public show to explain what happens to people who break the laws. His wife has the chance of visiting him for the last time, so she enters the dungeon with their four kids and a crying newborn in her arms. The guardian is distracted by some wine and the couple take advan- tage of the situation by respectively exchanging their clothes. When the guardian is tired of the children’s screams and cries, he obliges the group to leave. The exchange is found out in the late afternoon when the friar arrives to comfort and confess Giovanni in order to prepare him to death. His wife is immediately released and the guar- dian is first punished and then fired. Giovanni hid himself in the woods near the river Oglio and once he crossed it, he started a new life in the Venetian region with his wife and children that reached him a few days later.