Remember St. Mark's Square in Venice, the little area at the water, between
two columns?  It's called the Piazzetta - the space between the Doge's palace
and the huge library designed by Jacopo Sansovino and completed in 1591.

The Piazzetta had long been used for theatrical events and public displays,
and the wide bays in Sansovino's library were deliberately designed to allow
the patricians good seats at such spectacles.  Sansovino also cleared the
Piazzetta of market stalls, urinals and other clutter, in an attempt to
formalize the space.

For what, you may ask?  A recent article in SAH journal by Eugene Williams on
the history of the Piazzetta says that the space between the two columns had
been used for executions since (at least) 1299 AD; in 1503 a sausage maker,
Biagio Cargnia, was beheaded there for using minced children in his products,
which had been considered especially tasty.

In 1575 (when the library was half completed) six highwaymen were beheaded
and quartered there.  Official orders set out the specifics of the execution
of their two leaders:  "you will place Venatio di Medici, knight, and Zanon
da Bagnacavallo on a platform in a barge and take them [to the Piazzetta]
where the right hand of each will be cut off and hung from his neck.  You
will have them dragged by the tails of horses between the two columns of
Saint Mark, with a commander who shouts by water and by land their guilt.
Then you will lead them onto a tall platform between the said two columns,
where you will cause their heads to be severed from their bodies and each
body divided into four pieces and then hung from the customary hooks."

Kind of topical, no?

Best to all,
Sign me, Born in a death penalty state.