Cacciaguida

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Cacciaguida is presented as Dante's ancestor, born in ancient Florence and baptized in the Baptistery, where he was made a Christian, as the poet himself would be. He received the honor of knighthood and departed as a crusader for the Holy Land, where he met his death. The sources establish that he died before 1189, since his son Alighiero, "son of the late Cacciaguida," is mentioned in documents of 1189 and 1201. He had two sons, Bello and Bellincione; from Bellincione descended Alighiero II, Dante's father, making Cacciaguida the poet's great-great-grandfather. During the journey beyond the grave, Cacciaguida appears to Dante in Paradise as a blessed spirit and reveals himself as his ancestor, welcoming him with words of paternal affection inspired by those of Virgil's Anchises. A note indicates him placed among the proud in the first terrace of Purgatory, a place designated as proper to the Alighieri family, where his great-grandson must join him with prayers of suffrage. His figure, modeled on the city, embodies the original nobility of Florence now lost, and descent from him is what defines Dante's very identity.