del Vaio

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In the Heaven of Mars, within the white rose of his ancestors, Cacciaguida indignantly recalls the succession of new families in the houses of the ancient Florentine lineages. Among the degenerate branches of his own house, after having mentioned the Ravignani and other families, the poet's great-great-grandfather recalls the «column of the Vaio», that is, the descent of the Vaio, by then grown so much as to constitute a true genealogical column. The note to Canto XVI clarifies that the context is that of the polemic against the Cerchi, defined as «the savage faction» and identified as responsible for the Florentine civil struggles that played so great a part in Dante's life.