Battle of Zappolino The Battle of Zappolino ( also known as the War of the Oaken Bucket ) was fought in November 1325 between forces representing the Italian towns of Bologna and Modena , an incident in the series of raids and reprisals between the two cities that were part of the larger conflicts of Guelphs and Ghibellines . The Modenese were victorious . Though many clashes between Guelfs and Ghibellines loomed larger to contemporaries than to historians , in this unusually large encounter between 4000 estimated cavalry and some 35 , 000 foot soldiers , 2000 men lost their lives . The location of the battle , at the foot of a hill just outside the castle walls , is today a " frazione " of the municipality of Castello di Serravalle , Emilia - Romagna . Setting . Though their boundaries had been set by Frederick II , Holy Roman Emperor , in person , a century before , competitive friction along their mutual marches between Ghibelline Modena , with the Emperor as patron , and Guelf Bologna , with the Pope as patron , had flared over decades . In 1296 the Bolognese successfully invaded the Modenese lands of Bazzano and Savigno , with the support of Pope Boniface VIII , who recognized in 1298 the Guelf possession of these border castles . Within the two cities the situation was complicated by numbers of exiles and divided loyalties . In Modena the struggle for power after the death of Obizzo II d ' Este , which divided his sons ' friends into hostile camps , was resolved in favour of Azzo VIII , who confronted Bologna in part to bolster his lukewarm reception by his own city ' s nobles . His elected successor , the Mantuan Passerino Bonacolsi , the agent of Louis of Bavaria , King of the Romans , pursued the embittered war politics , with Parma , Reggio and Modena also under his power . For his part John XXIII declared him a rebel against the Church , granting indulgences as befit a Crusader to any who could harm his person or his possessions . In the months before the battle , border clashes intensified . In July , the Bolognese entered Modenese territory and laid waste the fields in the section " between the canals " , by fire and sword ; in August a Bolognese rabble headed by their podestà spent two weeks ravaging the lands of Modena . In September the Mantuans took their turn , and at the end of that month , the strategic Bolognese " rocca " of Monteveglio was betrayed to Modena by malcontents ; two renegade castellans were decapitated . Battle . As the Bolognese chronicler Matteo Griffoni tells it , the militia and rabble of Bologna headed by their podestà , aided by allies from Florence and Romagna , besieged the fortress of Monteveglio . Quickly an opposing force arrived , headed by Cangrande della Scala , leader of the Ghibelline faction , Azzone Visconti of Milan , with many of his professional German troops , and Rinaldo , marchese of Ferrara , leading forces of Modena , Mantua and Ferrara . Cangrande soon departed for Verona , but the Bolognese took for their captain the " condottiero " Malatesta , lord of Rimini . The battle took place 15 November 1325 , towards sunset . The Bolognesi had 30 , 000 foot soldiers , who would have been haphazardly armed , and 2000 cavaliers , facing 2000 cavaliers on the Modenese side , supported by 5000 foot soldiers . The Ghibellini were arrayed on the plain where the " frazione " of Ziribega stands , while the Guelfs were on the slope descending from Bersagliera towards Zappolino , the " Prati di Soletto " surmounted by the castle . The Bolognese recalled men who had been drawn apart by a ruse , to Bazzano and Ponte Sant ' Ambrogio . The aim was to stop the advance of the Modenese towards Monteveglio . The battle was over by nightfall , within a couple of hours , with the Bolognese routed . The Modenese advanced to the very walls of Bologna , destroying the castles of Crespellano , Zola , Samoggia , Anzola , Castelfranco , Piumazzo and the chiusa del Reno near Casalecchio , which diverted the river towards the city . They did not attempt a siege of the city , but scornfully organized a " palio " outside the very gates of the city , " ad æternam memoriam præmissorum et æternam Bononiensium scandalum " , " to the eternal memory of those sent out on the expedition and the eternal shame of Bologna " , and then returned to Modena brandishing a bucket taken from a well outside Porta San Felice ; twenty - six captured notables of Bologna were incarcerated for the next eleven weeks in Modena . Outcome . Though David Abulafia in " The New Cambridge Medieval History " asserts that " Ghibelline influence in the region was consolidated by a victory at Zappolino " : peace agreements in the following January returned Monteveglio and the other castles to Bologna , a return locally to " status quo ante " that was probably paid for privately , as ransom , with coin in the hands of Passerino Bonacolsi . At Bologna , the coat of arms of Pope John XXII was displayed in conjunction with those of Robert d ' Anjou , a mark that the old alliance of the Avignon papacy and the house of Anjou was still viable in some eyes . One of the bloodiest medieval battles had virtually no outcome and is largely ignored by historians . The battle is also famous for the wooden bucket that the Modenese took as spoils from the Bolognesi . Though it is not mentioned by Griffoni , this unusual booty was venerated in Modena in remembrance of the victory . The history of the bucket was told in Alessandro Tassoni ' s satirical poem " La Secchia Rapita " ( 1614 – 15 , published in Paris , 1622 ) . It was still to be seen in the basement of the Torre della Ghirlandina in 1911 . It was later replaced by a copy , while the original pail is still ( 2013 ) visible in Modena ' s Town Hall .