VII
Capo d’Arno
“Per mezzo Toscana si spazia
Un fiumicel che nasce in Falterona
E cento miglia di corso nol sazia.”
(Purg. 14, 18 ff.)
As one wandered about the palace and the streets of Poppi, the thought arose if and under what circumstances Dante stayed here. He is known to have come into the Casentino during the early part of his exile—that is, about the year 1305; he was here again in March and April of 1311, as is proved by the letters he wrote and dated from here. One of these contains the fierce invective against Florence, the other expresses the fears which the poet apprehended from the Emperor’s delay. They are dated “on the confines of Tuscany near the springs of the Arno,” and on the strength of this expression the strongholds of Poppi, Romena and Porciano, besides Pratovecchio, claim to have harboured the poet.
These different strongholds, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, were still in the possession of different branches of the Guidi family. The castle of Pratovecchio was owned by Count Guido Selvatico, who belonged to
CHURCH OF ROMENA (CASENTINO)
the branch of the family which embraced Guelf sympathies. He fought on the side of the Guelfs at Campaldino, at Florence he afterwards joined the Neri, and his sympathies were therefore akin to those of Dante. Boccaccio tells us that Dante enjoyed the hospitality of Guido Selvatico, and this would be during the early part of his exile. The wife of Guido Selvatico was Manessa, the daughter of Buonconte, who perished at Campaldino, and it is generally supposed that Dante’s relation to Manessa caused him to introduce the account of Buonconte’s flight into the Comedy.
There is extant a letter of Dante, in which he describes how, after setting foot by the streams of the Arno, he made the acquaintance of a woman whom he thought in all respects suited to his inclination, his character and his fortunes. This lady so inspired him that he gave up his resolve to keep aloof from women and from songs about women. He composed a canzone in her praise, a copy of which he appended to the letter. But the lady’s name and her whereabouts have always remained a mystery.
From which of the other strongholds Dante dated the letters of 1311 is difficult to decide. The expression “Capo d’Arno” may well refer to Poppi, which is the first place reached coming over the hills from Florence by the old road. Its castle, as we have seen, was owned at this time by the younger Count Guido of Battifolle, who, after his uncle’s death, was called Guido Novello, and who, after re-building the castle, quietly dwelt there. He was comparatively peace-loving, and lived on friendly terms with his cousin of Pratovecchio; their sons too were friends. When the Emperor, in 1312, summoned the Guidi to join him in his march on Florence, Guido Novello the younger did not respond to the call, but sent troops in aid of the city. He became podestà of Florence a few years later, and it was during the term of his rule that the proposal was tendered to Dante to return to Florence, but on terms which the poet felt unable to accept.