Does Italian town cage, dunk politician who made the year's worst decision?

For years, social media users have circulated a claim that every year, an Italian town punishes the politician responsible for the year's worst decision by locking them in a cage and dunking them into a freezing river. 

For instance, one Facebook post (archived) making the claim read, "Every year, an Italian town locks the politician who made the year's worst decision in a cage and plunges them into a freezing river while the town cheers."

Variations on the story spread on multiple social media platforms, including X, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Threads and Instagram, often alongside photos or videos from the alleged event.

In short, the claim is based on a real annual event in the northern Italian city of Trento. The tradition, called the Tonca, is part of the city's Feste Vigiliane celebrations honoring its patron saint, San Vigilio or St. Vigilius. But the Tonca is not a real punishment in which an actual politician is locked in a cage and thrown into the river. It is a satirical public ritual tied to a mock trial, and the person lowered into the Adige River is a performer, not the person symbolically condemned. Additionally, while many posts about the claim describe the water as "freezing," we found no evidence that the Adige is literally at or around freezing temperatures during the June event, which takes place in much milder weather; rather, this language appeared to be an exaggeration.

As a result, we've rated the claim a mixture of true and false information.

The event is a winking reenactment of a historical punishment reportedly used in Trento between the 14th and 17th centuries, when authorities caged people accused of blasphemy and lowered them into the river. In its modern form, it can target multiple figures or even symbolic culprits.

Real story behind the river dunking

Before the dunking takes place each June, Trento stages the Tribunale di Penitenza, a surreal mock tribunal in which accusations, defenses and verdicts are presented with irony. The official Feste Vigiliane website describes the tradition as a public performance blending "theater, satire and popular participation," and notes that over the years actors and comedians including Andrea Castelli, Lucio Gardin and Mario Cagol have led the event. Local reporting has likewise described it as a comic tribunal in which improbable accusations and defenses precede a final verdict.

The dunking follows later. The official 2025 Feste Vigiliane program said that after the court's decision, the condemned person would be symbolically shut in a cage and immersed in the Adige River. Rai News reported that those "condemned" in 2025 included provincial President Maurizio Fugatti, over the issue of a third term in office, as well as Trentino residents who did not vote in recent elections and referendums. But the person who actually went into the river in a cage was Tania Vianini, "come figurante" — in other words, as a performer or stand-in.

While social media posts often describe the event as if Trento literally punishes the politician responsible for the year's "worst decision," today's Tonca can target "one or more people, politicians and not," or even a non-human offender. 

For instance, in 2023, Rai News reported that the target was "the bear," a symbolic scapegoat for what was going wrong in Trentino. In 2024, Rai News reported that the "toncati" included Fugatti, Franco Ianeselli and "extreme animal-rights activists." In 2019, local coverage said four politicians were "condemned." These examples show that the event can target more than one figure at a time rather than a single politician blamed for one decision.

The event's format has also varied over time. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 Tribunale di Penitenza took place online, and coronavirus itself was among the symbolic "condemned" candidates.

In the first post-pandemic edition, the event closed with a bucket-of-water version of the Tonca rather than the usual river immersion. Recordings of the event from multiple years, including 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019, are also available online.

Who is actually lowered into the river?

The person lowered into the Adige is not the politician or other figure symbolically condemned by the mock tribunal. Official descriptions of the Tonca explain that in the modern version, the offender is immersed in the river "tramite controfigura" — that is, by means of a stand-in or performer. 

For decades, that role was played by Giorgio Vianini, a longtime Trento volunteer closely associated with the tradition. In a 2024 interview, Vianini said he first took part in the Tonca in 1985 and missed only one, in 2010. The article described him as the historic face of the ritual, a man who year after year symbolically atoned for the city's sins.

Below is a 2022 photo from the event's Facebook page showing Giorgio Vianini:

After Giorgio Vianini died in November 2024, his daughter Tania Vianini took over the role the following year. Below is a 2025 photo of Tania Vianini in the role once performed by her father:

The bottom line

All in all, the viral story contains a kernel of truth. Trento really does hold an annual event called the Tonca, in which a person in a cage is symbolically lowered into the Adige River after a mock public trial tied to current controversies.

However, the claim often shared alongside videos and photos from the event is misleading. The "trial" is a satirical performance, not a real punishment. Its symbolic targets are not always politicians, and in some years there is more than one. Finally, the person lowered into the river is not the actual public figure being condemned, but a stand-in performer, and posts saying that the Adige is literally "freezing" during the June event appeared to be using exaggerated language.