La Compagnia del SS. Crocifisso, called “Bianchi” for their hooded white tunics, was made up solely of aristocrats and presided over by the viceroy. Established in the second half of the sixteenth century, it was responsible for accompanying those sentenced to death to a giusta morte, (“just death”). It was located in the sumptuous Oratorio dei Bianchi on Via dello Spasimo. The procession led the condemned from the eighteenth century staircase in Piazzetta Bianchi to the gallows in Piazza Marina. AC, 441.

For an evocative description, see: Dacia Maraini’s excellent novel, The Silent Duchess, 13-19.