San Salvi

   “Or va,” diss’ el, “ché quei che più n’ha colpa,
vegg’io a coda d’una bestia tratto
inver la valle ove mai non si scolpa.
   La bestia ad ogni passo va più ratto
crescendo sempre, finch’ ella il percuote,
e lascia il corpo vilmente disfatto.”

(Purgatorio XXIV.82-87)

   “Now go,” he said, “for him who is most at fault,
I see dragged by the tail of a beast
into the valley where no one is forgiven.
   The animal goes faster with each step
racing ever more quickly, until he’s battered
and it leaves his body disgustingly disfigured.”

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In these verses, the sommo poeta has Forese Donati ‘predict’ the death of Corso Donati, the leader of the Black Guelphs and one of those most responsible for the political discord in Florence.

In 1308, Corso Donati politically aligned himself with Uguccione della Faggiuola, the podestà then of Arezzo and his father-in-law, in an attempt to gain control over the city of Florence. When Corso realized that he had lost the support of the lower classes, he sent a request for help to Uguccione and fled.

Meanwhile, however, Uguccione had been given word, incorrectly, that Corso had already been arrested and so decided against traveling to Florence to help his son-in-law. During his escape from Florence, Corso was overtaken and captured near Rovezzano by Catalan mercenaries (just east of San Salvi) who killed him not far from this spot. According to Giovanni Villani, he was afterwards buried inside the church in a modest ceremony:

“Corso, departing all alone, was overtaken and captured near Rovezzano by certain Catalans on horseback who planned to take him prisoner and to bring him back to Florence. When they were at the church of San Salvi, Corso begged them to let him go free, promising them a lot of money if they would let him escape. However, they couldn’t be persuaded to do anything other than what their lords had commanded. Then, Corso Donati, in fear of coming into the hands of his enemies, and of being brought to justice by the people, let himself fall from his horse, claiming that he was suffering from gout in his hands and feet. One of the Catalans, seeing him on the ground, thrust his lance into Corso’s throat, which was a mortal blow, and then left him there for dead. The monks of San Salvi’s convent carried him into the abbey. Some said that before he died he gave himself into their hands as a penitent, and others said that he was already dead by the time they got him inside. The next morning, he was buried in San Salvi with little honor and very few present, out of fear of reprisals.” (Nuova cronica 9.96)

Death of Corso Donati (from G. Villani, Cronica, Biblioteca Vaticana ms. Chigiano L.VIII.296, 193r, 1348)

Like the plaque of the Misericordia in Piazza del Duomo, this one at San Salvi was created after the debut of the original series in the city center.

Coat of arms of the Donati family