Iacopo Rusticucci

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Iacopo Rusticucci is named by Dante in Inferno VI, among the great Florentine citizens of the past about whom the poet asks Ciacco for news, alongside Arrigo and Mosca. He then appears directly in Inferno XVI, within the circle of the sodomites, where he says of himself "Iacopo Rusticucci fui, e certo" and alludes, with reserve, to a family drama which ancient commentators linked to the wickedness of his wife, who allegedly drove him to the vice. The notes to the canto recall that he was an honored Florentine knight, whose name appears in several public documents around the middle of the thirteenth century, and that in 1254 he negotiated on behalf of Florence with the other Tuscan cities. The same commentaries point out that it no longer seems a coincidence that such illustrious and honored figures find themselves among the darkest souls of the seventh circle.