 According to Abbott, "mazzatello" constituted "one of the most brutal methods of execution ever devised, requiring minimal skill on the part of the executioner and superhuman acquiescence by the victim".Megivern cites "mazzatello" as one example of an execution method devised by the Papal States that "competed with and in some instances surpassed those of other regimes for cruelty".The condemned would be led to a scaffold in a public square of Rome, accompanied by a priest (the confessor of the condemned); the platform also contained a coffin and the masked executioner, dressed in black.