The Execution of Giordano Bruno at Campo de' Fiori in 1600 in Contemporary Accounts
Before being burned, Giordano Bruno said to his judges: “You pronounce this sentence upon me with greater fear than I receive it”.
These words were recorded by Count Ventimiglia, a pupil of Bruno who was present at the burning. Count Ventimiglia reports that before his death Bruno urged him to “follow his glorious path, shunning error and superstition”.
On 19 February 1600 the Avvisi di Roma carried a report of the execution of the 52-year-old Giordano Bruno.
"On Thursday morning in the Campo de' Fiori there was burned alive the criminal, the Dominican friar of Nola, of whom word has already been written, a most obstinate heretic, who according to his own caprice had devised various dogmas against our faith and, in particular, against the most holy Virgin and the saints. He stubbornly wished to die a criminal, and said that he was dying a martyr and of his own free will, and that he knew his soul would ascend with the smoke to paradise. But now he will see whether he spoke the truth."
