Farinata

   ... fu’ io sol colà, dove sofferto
fu per ciascuno di torre via Fiorenza,
colui che la difese a viso aperto.

(Inferno X.91-93)

   ... I alone was there, where it was
decided to raze Florence to the ground.
I alone brazenly defended her.

Dante meets the arch-heretic Farinata degli Uberti in the sixth circle of Hell where they are punished in flaming sarcophagi. Although there isn’t any concrete evidence that Farinata actually was a heretic, his appearance in that part of Inferno has influenced his reputation ever since.

Farinata (or Manente) degli Uberti was the leading member of the Ghibelline party and head of the Uberti, the most affluent family of the time. In 1258 the Ghibellines failed to take control of the city government and were exiled. The houses of the Uberti were burnt down and the city confiscated their properties.

It is said that after the Battle of Montaperti (1260), where the Ghibellines finally defeated the Guelphs, the former met at Empoli to establish the Tuscan Ghibelline party and there voted - almost unanimously - to raze Florence to the ground. Their general, Farinata, was aghast at such an odious proposal. He unsheathed his sword and swore that he would not allow Florence to be destroyed.

“All the barons together took counsel,” Villani wrote, “and all agreed that, for the good of the Ghibelline party, the city of Florence should be utterly destroyed and reduced to little shacks, so that neither renown, nor fame, nor power of its might would survive. To protest this proposal, messer Farinata degli Uberti, a wise and valiant knight, rose to his feet, [...] adroitly turning the vulgar proverbs of the others to examples and comparisons in order to show the folly of such an idea and the great peril and damage that would ensue. He concluded by saying that, even if he stood alone, he would defend Florence with sword in hand until his death. [...] Thus, our city of Florence was saved by one good man and fellow citizen from great fury, destruction and ruin.” (Nuova cronica 7.81)

And so, despite the second exile of all the Uberti, the city owes its survival to his magnanimity. Farinata died in 1264, but in order to quell somewhat the tensions between Ghibellines and Guelphs, his daughter Beatrice was betrothed to Guido Cavalcanti three years later. This connection must have been one of the reasons that Dante puts Farinata and Guido’s father into the same fiery tomb.

Above: statue of Farinata in the Gallery of the Uffizi

Below: painting of Farinata (by Andrea del Castagno, ca. 1450) in the Villa Carducci-Pandolfini museum​

Coat of arms of the Uberti family

Coat of arms of the Ghibelline Party