Francesco Arcangeli

Did You Know?

• Arcangeli bought a knife and rope on 7 June 1768, the day before the murder.
• Arcangeli provided contradictory versions of events during six interrogations, claiming Winckelmann was a spy, a Jew, or a Lutheran.

Biography

Francesco Arcangeli was born on 18 May 1737 in Campiglio di Cireglio, a hamlet of the municipality of Pistoia then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He was a cook by profession and before the events of 1768 had been convicted of several crimes. In June 1768, while lodging at the Osteria Grande in Trieste, he met Johann Joachim Winckelmann, the 50-year-old Prefect of Antiquities of Pope Clement XIII, who was traveling incognito as Signor Giovanni and waiting for a ship bound for Ancona. Winckelmann showed Arcangeli several gold and silver medals, including one Maria Theresa had recently awarded him. The two spent a lot of time together, eating, walking and talking, throughout the week following their meeting. On 7 June, Arcangeli accompanied Winckelmann to buy a pencil and a penknife. Arcangeli returned to the shop later that day to buy a knife. He bought some rope in another shop. On 8 June, he visited Winckelmann in his hotel room after dinner as was his custom. There he attacked and strangled Winckelmann, who pushed him away. Arcangeli pulled out his knife and they fought. Arcangeli later told authorities that he stabbed Winckelmann on the chest and also 'lower down'. Arcangeli then fled and Winckelmann screamed down the stairs: 'Look what he did to me!'. Winckelmann spent his last hours doing his will and he forgave Arcangeli. He was buried the next day at the cemetery of the Trieste Cathedral. Arcangeli was arrested and sentenced to death on 18 July to be beaten alive on a wheel on the city's main square. The sentence was carried out two days later on 20 July.