The commemoration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the execution of Gaietà Ripoll in Valencia, considered the last heretic executed by the Spanish Inquisition, serves as a reminder of historical brutality. Diaries and testimonies from the era, such as Alfons el Magnànim's chaplain's Llibre de memòries and the writings of Jeroni Soria, detail the methods and locations of capital sentences.

Historians Jorge A. Català Sanz and Pablo Pérez García, in their article “Espacios y paisajes del horror en la Valencia moderna (siglos XV, XVI y XVII)”, explain that, unlike common criminals hanged in the Plaça del Mercat, those condemned for heresy were burned at stakes. These were located in the Guadalaviar riverbed (the old name for the Turia River), near the water, to prevent fires in the city.

The Archbishop's Palace, the Royal Palace, and the Inquisition Palace functioned as faith prisons between the 15th and 19th centuries. Death sentences, which included decapitations and dismemberments, were carried out in public places. The limbs of the executed were displayed as a symbol of the victory of justice and the power of the prince, and as tangible proof of the criminal's death.

The Valencian Inquisition did not use hanging until a very late stage. Those condemned by the Holy Office were executed by ordinary justice, which applied both burning at the stake and other physical punishments. The first documented execution by death was in 1486, and the bonfires were set up in the Guadalaviar riverbed for safety reasons, to prevent the spread of fire.

The epicenter of the executions was the Plaça del Mercat, where 94% of the hangings occurred in the second half of the 15th century. Other enclaves in the capital that hosted executions included the Plaça de l'Almodí and Sant Bertomeu, as well as streets like Mossén Lluís Sabata and Assaonadors. Subsequently, executions moved to squares such as La Seu, Santa Catalina, Sant Jordi or Serranos, and streets like La Nau or Sant Vicent, in addition to the General Hospital.