Montemalo

Description

According to the notes to the canto, Montemalo designates Monte Mario, the hill from which Rome was seen coming from Viterbo along the Via Cassia, at that time the most traveled road. The parallel established by Dante is with Monte Uccellatoio, from which Florence instead revealed itself to the traveler coming from Bologna. The reference therefore concerns the grandiose appearance of the city seen from above: its palaces, towers, and buildings. The pronoun 'che' in the following verses is to be referred precisely to Montemalo, which stands for Rome in its monumental aspect. In this sense, at the time of the writing of the Poem, Rome (Montemalo) had not yet been 'defeated' by Florence in architectural splendor, even though that superiority which would prelude a rapid and ruinous Florentine decline was already underway.