I have toured this place a couple of times. It is incredible.
From the Guardian:
By age 20 Francesco Mannarino had seen more of life than was good for him. The son of a Sicilian fisherman, he had been seized as a boy by Muslim pirates and converted, perhaps forcibly, to Islam.
In the early 17th century apostasy was not an offence so long as the convert reported promptly to the officials of the dreaded Inquisition after being ransomed or recaptured. Mannarino did so, but something must have failed to convince them he was still truly a Christian and he was thrown into the dungeons alongside Palazzo Steri in Palermo.
It was perhaps in a desperate attempt to persuade his captors of his devotion to the faith that he drew a life-size St Andrew on the walls of his cell, signing and dating it 1610. The drawing is among the first to emerge from a project that is offering a glimpse into the lives of the victims of the Spanish Inquisition.
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From the Guardian:
By age 20 Francesco Mannarino had seen more of life than was good for him. The son of a Sicilian fisherman, he had been seized as a boy by Muslim pirates and converted, perhaps forcibly, to Islam.
In the early 17th century apostasy was not an offence so long as the convert reported promptly to the officials of the dreaded Inquisition after being ransomed or recaptured. Mannarino did so, but something must have failed to convince them he was still truly a Christian and he was thrown into the dungeons alongside Palazzo Steri in Palermo.
It was perhaps in a desperate attempt to persuade his captors of his devotion to the faith that he drew a life-size St Andrew on the walls of his cell, signing and dating it 1610. The drawing is among the first to emerge from a project that is offering a glimpse into the lives of the victims of the Spanish Inquisition.
app
Download the free Guardian app
Download the free Guardian app
Specially crafted for Windows 10, this app gives you full access to the Guardian's award-winning content. With automatic caching, you can keep reading even when you’re offline.
Click here