: He argued that God gave the Holy Spirit to everyone—Christians, Jews, Turks, and heretics alike—and that all could be saved regardless of their specific faith.
: The 2018 movie Menocchio the Heretic focuses on his refusal to betray his principles. Menocchio the Heretic
: After years of living under house arrest and being forced to wear a yellow cross of shame, Menocchio was arrested again. He had continued to spread his ideas, and this time, the Inquisition declared him a "relapsed heretic" and a "heresiarch". The Execution : He argued that God gave the Holy
The story of , born Domenico Scandella (1532–1599), is one of the most famous "microhistories" from the Italian Reformation. A self-educated miller from the small village of Montereale Valcellina, Menocchio was famously tried twice by the Roman Inquisition for his strikingly original and "heretical" views on the cosmos. He had continued to spread his ideas, and
Despite his humble station, Menocchio was literate and read widely—from the Bible to Boccaccio’s Decameron and Mandeville’s Travels . He developed a unique, almost sci-fi theory about creation that he shared openly with his neighbors: