Arezzo

Description

The verse-marker fixes the identity of the place through the words of Griffolino d'Arezzo, who presents himself to Dante as a native of the Aretine city, contrasted with Albero da Siena: «Io fui d'Arezzo, e Albero da Siena» (Inf. XXIX, v. 109). In the authorized notes Arezzo also appears as a historical-geographical pole: it is the city from which, in 1287, the Ghibellines under Buonconte da Montefeltro drove out the Guelphs; it is the Ghibelline stronghold opposed to Florence at the Battle of Campaldino on 11 June 1289, where «the first [were] gathered around Florence, the second around Arezzo»; it is the Tuscan center to which the Casentino connects as an intermediate region between Florence and Arezzo itself; and it is the place of origin of the medieval scientist Ristoro d'Arezzo, author of the Composizione, cited in connection with natural phenomena.