Palazzo della Ragione, entrance wall

This fresco is unique. Here the complexity of the various layers reaches its peak. Fortunately the interpretation of the main scene is made possible by the writing in it. Part of the painting is no longer visible, but the frescoed strip shows a sequence of figures, and the written names of some of them are still visible. Moreover, there is a date, 1251. A much larger vertical sign separates two characters: the one on the right is holding a book. The scene as a whole has been identified as one of the first examples, perhaps the first, of the so-called “defamatory” painting. It is in fact the representation of a shameful event in the history of the community, in which traitors from the city carried out an infamous scheme.