Girolamo Pietraperzia Barresi
Girolamo Pietraperzia Barresi, 2nd Marquess of Pietraperzia was a Sicilian nobleman who was executed after a prolonged process for the crime of murder and parricide.
Early life
He was a son of Matteo Barresi, 1st Marquess of Pietraperzia, and Antonella Valguarnera. His paternal grandparents were Giovanni Antonio Barresi, Lord of Pietraperzia, and Laura Barrese, Lady of Molisena and Alfano. His maternal grandparents were Vitale Valguarnera, Baron of Assoro, and Eleonora Ribesaltes, Baroness of Ranciditi.Career
Girolamo was one of the patrons of the mathematician and astronomer Francesco Maurolico.His sentence for the murder of his father, Matteo Barresi, and two servants in 1533, was based on a confession obtained under torture. His sentence was initially commuted by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, after extracting some hefty fines, but the new viceroy Juan de Vega ultimately enforced the death sentence in Palermo, by decapitation, on 15 March 1549.
Personal life
Barresi was married to Antonia Santapau, a daughter of Ponzio Santapau, 4th Marquess of Licodia, and Eleonora Branciforte. Antonia was the sister of Ambrogio Santapau and Francesco Santapau, both Princes of Butera. Together, they two children:- Dorotea Barresi, Princess of Pietraperzia, who married three times; first to Giovanni Branciforte, 4th Count of Mazarin. After his death in 1556, she married Vincenzo Barresi, 2nd Marquess of Militello. After Barresi's death in 1567, she married the new Viceroy of Naples Juan de Zúñiga y Requesens, with whom she moved to Spain where she participated in the upbringing of King Philip V of Spain.
- Pietro Barresi, 1st Prince of Pietraperzia, who married Giulia Moncada, a daughter of Francesco I Moncada, Prince of Paterno, and Caterina Pignatelli Carafa.