Real
Siena
Siena is recalled by Dante in the Purgatorio as the place of his birth and residence: in Purg. V 134 he defines it as the shaper of his formation, and in canto XI 111 he points to it as the setting in which a fellow citizen's voice struggles to make itself heard.
Description
In the Purgatorio Siena is called upon in clearly autobiographical terms: the Dantean tercet «Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma» (Purg. V 134) attributes to it a formative role in the poet's life, indicating in the Maremma the cause of his ruin. Further on in the cantica, an observation of a moral nature places Siena as the setting for a civic custom: the expression «e ora a pena in Siena sen pispiglia» (Purg. XI 111) refers in fact to the difficulty of being noticed, of speaking or moving freely among one's fellow citizens, hinting at a condition of surveillance or social constraint within the Sienese urban fabric of the time.
In the text
Linked verses
5 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto XXIX | 109 | «Io fui d’Arezzo, e Albero da Siena», | Open verse |
| Purgatory | Canto V | 134 | Siena mi fé, disfecemi Maremma: | Open verse |
| Purgatory | Canto XI | 111 | e ora a pena in Siena sen pispiglia, | Open verse |
| Purgatory | Canto XI | 123 | a recar Siena tutta a le sue mani. | Open verse |
| Purgatory | Canto XI | 134 | «liberamente nel Campo di Siena, | Open verse |