In April 1287, a resident of Bologna named Franco di Rodulfino stood trial for physically and verbally abusing a berrovarius of the podestà during a weapons search. The assaulted officer, Bernardino, and his patrol partner each told the same story in court: when Bernardino tried to search him for illegal weapons, Franco grabbed him by the shoulders, pulled him forcefully toward himself, and said “horrid and injurious words” to him, namely, “Are you a bugger?” (buzironus). Considering that Bologna's statutes prescribed immolation as the punishment for sodomy, “bugger” was a horrible insult indeed. Franco did not dispute their story under oath but claimed he had not recognized Bernardino as a berrovarius since he was “almost drunk.” He also offered a slightly different version of what he had said to Bernardino, which translates roughly as: “What are you, a bugger, touching me that way?” Franco, it appears, was initially convicted and spent a few days in jail, though the judge ultimately acquitted him.

Franco's case is fascinating in its own right for his apparent use of a homophobic slur in reaction to the familia's weapons search. He seems to have viewed their attempt to pat him down as a threat to his masculinity. But his case is also emblematic of what occurred routinely in the city streets on a much larger scale.