Lamone

Description

In Inferno XXVII, v. 49, the river Lamone appears in a list of places in northern Italy that Pope Nicholas III, pierced by the forks, prophesies he will have to cross after leaving Boniface VIII in his place: "the cities of Lamone and Santerno." The notes to Canto XIV of the Commedia specify the geography of the Lamone valley: Ugolino dei Fantolini of Faenza, defined as a "brave, virtuous, and noble person," was lord of various castles in the valleys of the Lamone and the Senio. The identification of the river with the same-named watercourse in Emilia-Romagna is confirmed by the same periphrasis used by the poet to indicate the towns between Imola and Faenza.