Calfucci

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In Canto XVI of Paradiso, Cacciaguida, evoking the Florentine families of his time, indicates the Calfucci with the periphrasis "Lo ceppo di che nacquero i Calfucci" ("The stock from which the Calfucci were born"), understanding under this root, or stock, also the Donati. The authorized critical note clarifies that "i Donati, o vero Calfucci, che tutti furono uno legnaggio, ma i Calfucci vennero meno" ("the Donati, or true Calfucci, who were all one lineage, but the Calfucci died out"), thus specifying that the stock is the one from which both the Calfucci and the Donati descended, the family at the head of the Black Guelph faction that would play such a large part in Dante's misfortunes. The Calfucci are therefore presented as a now-extinct branch of a broader household. The note also underlines how, in parallel with what happens for the Cerchi, the name of the Donati is likewise not made explicit in the verses. There is no element in the verses or in the notes that places the Calfucci in a specific circle, terrace, or heaven, since this is a genealogical recollection uttered in the Heaven of Mars.