Bucket War
The Bucket War was a war between Bologna and Modena in 1325. It was a local escalation of the centuries-long conflict between the Ghibellines and Guelphs , the supporters of the Roman-German Emperor and the Pope in their power struggle.
Rinaldo dei Bonacolsi was ruler of Modena from 1312 and one of the most important leaders of the Ghibellines, repeatedly excommunicated by the Pope . He had driven Guelfi families from Modena who, with the support of Guelfi Bologna, devastated the area around Modena several times. Rinaldo then conquered the strategically important fortress of Monteveglio , and the attempt by the Bolognese to recapture it led to the Battle of Zappolino on November 15, 1325, in which 7,000 Modenese soldiers defeated a 32,000-strong Bolognese army. The Modenese then marched to the gates of Bologna, destroyed fortifications there and then withdrew. As a symbolic humiliation, they took a wooden bucket as spoils of war, which is kept in the City Hall of Modena and a copy hangs from the ceiling in the Ghirlandina .
Alessandro Tassoni became known with the poem La secchia rapita (The Stolen Bucket) , which was adapted as an opera by Antonio Salieri . In this heroic-comic portrayal, the bucket is secretly stolen and then represents the trigger for the war.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ingeborg Walter, Rinaldo detto Passerino dei Bonacolsi; in Treccani, Dizionario Biografico op. cit.