A 1325 conflict between Bologna and Modena, part of the centuries-long Guelph-Ghibelline struggle, notable for its legendary association with a stolen bucket.
Key Facts
- Year
- 1325
- Region
- Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy
- Only battle
- Battle of Zappolino
- Victor
- Modena
- Declared cause
- Modena's capture of Bolognese castle of Monteveglio
- Conflict context
- Part of 300+ year Guelph-Ghibelline struggle
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Tensions between Bologna and Modena escalated when Modenese forces captured the Bolognese castle of Monteveglio. This act of aggression, set within the broader centuries-long rivalry between Guelph and Ghibelline factions across Italian city-states, prompted Bologna to declare war on Modena.
The War of the Bucket was fought in 1325 in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy between the rival city-states of Bologna and Modena. The conflict consisted of a single engagement, the Battle of Zappolino, which Modena won. A popular myth attributes the war's origin to the theft of a bucket from a Bolognese well by Modenese soldiers.
Modena emerged victorious after winning the Battle of Zappolino. According to one account, Modenese forces took a wooden bucket from Bologna as a war trophy after the battle. The war became an enduring legend in Italian cultural memory, later immortalized in the mock-heroic poem 'La Secchia Rapita' by Alessandro Tassoni.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent