The Infamous Column (, also known as Pillar of Shame) is a 1973 Italian historical drama film directed by Nelo Risi.
Plot
It is 1630, and a devastating plague has descended upon the city of Milan. Guglielmo Piazza and Giacomo Mora are depicted as two city's artisans (really only Mora, a barber, was an artisan while Piazza was a sanitary officer). One day a woman accuses Piazza of being an (literally, a 'greaser'): a spreader of disease by anointing walls and furnitures with a pestiferous ointment. According to a superstitious belief held by the people, these untori were in league with the Devil, and were responsible for the spread of the pestilence.
Immediately the Church and the Inquisition scapegoat the two artisans for the outbreak, and subject them to trial by torture, despite the protests of Cardinal Borromeo.
Innocent victims of a panic which has gripped the populace, Piazza and Mora are found guilty of the imaginary crime of smearing poisonous substances about in the city to induce plague. They are put to death upon the wheel. Afterwards, a pillar (The Infamous Column of the title) is erected in the square which beheld their execution, with a warning for the masses, to guard against eruptions of public hysteria ever again.
Cast
Helmut Berger: Arconati Vittorio Caprioli: Guglielmo Piazza Francisco Rabal: Giacomo Mora Lucia Bosé: Chiara Salvo Randone: Settala Sergio Tofano: President of the Senate Pierluigi Aprà: Senator Monti Annabella Incontrera: Lover of Arcomat Feodor Chaliapin Jr.: Cardinal Federico Ernesto Colli: Judge Martin Balsam
See also List of Italian films of 1972
References
External links