Giulio Cesare Vachero

Giulio Cesare Vachero ( – May 31, 1628) was a Genoese adventurer and conspirator. He gave his name to one of the most famous conspiracies hatched in the 17th century against the government of the Republic of Genoa.

Biography Giulio Cesare Vachero was born in Sospel around 1586. He was the son of Bartolomeo Vachero, an enriched non-noble. In 1608 he married Ippolita Rela, of a distinguished Genoese family. After a series of misdemeanors, he was banished from the Republic. He was able to return in 1627 and settled in Genoa. Vachero put himself at the head of a group of wealthy and ambitious men of the popular class who were itching to be ennobled and to overthrow the existing oligarchy. They were recruited by Giovanni Antonio Ansaldo, an agent of the Duke of Savoy Charles Emmanuel, furnished with ample funds and told to raise groups of armed men who were to begin the coup d'état by occupying the Doge's Palace and exterminating as many of the old nobility as was possible. Vachero confessed his guilt only after the public pronunciation of the death sentence. His properties were confiscated, his house was demolished and his children were forced into exile.

Legacy

Following the failed conspiracy, the Republic established the Inquisitori di Stato (Inquisitors of the State), a sort of secret police whose main function was to safeguard the security of the State against its potential enemies. The episode, which had endangered the existence of the Republic, resulted in greater harmony between the nobles of different origins and greater moderation in disputes between nobles and commoners.

To this day in the Piazza Vachero, where Giulio Cesare's house was situated, there is a monument to the infamy of Giulio Cesare Vachero (now partly hidden by a fountain erected by his descendants).

Raffaele Della Torre, consultore in jure of the Republic and historian, wrote an history of the Vachero conspiracy that was published posthumously in 1846.