Branca Doria

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Branca Doria belonged to one of the most influential Genoese families. According to the ancient commentaries, aspiring to seize the Logudoro, of which his father-in-law Michele Zanche was lord, he invited the latter to a banquet and had him slaughtered along with all his retinue. The episode, approximately dated to 1294, follows the same form of treachery attributed to friar Alberigo, with a devil taking possession of his body even before his soul arrived at the place of punishment. Dante places him in the final stretch of the ice, among the traitors, where a damned soul points him out as his neighbor, saying that by now for more years he has been wintering at his back. The author associates him with Genoa, his homeland, in a second invective against the city, parallel to that against Pisa which closes the story of Ugolino.