Importuni

Profile

The Importuni are one of the Florentine houses evoked by Cacciaguida in the sixteenth canto of the Paradiso, among the families that preserved in their coat of arms the ensign of Marquis Ugo of Tuscany. According to the critical note, Marquis Ugo, margrave of the time of the Ottos and benefactor of Florence, had ennobled with a knightly title certain houses, among which tradition explicitly records the Giandonati, the Pulci, the della Bella, the Nerli, the Giangalandi, and the Alepri; these, out of gratitude, maintained the marquis's arms, characterized by seven red bends on a white field, modifying them with their own distinctive marks. The Dantean text mentions the Importuni alongside the Gualterotti, while the commentary on verse 130 clarifies that to such families belonged the order of knighthood and the privileges granted by the marquis. No other biographical or anecdotal detail about the Importuni is supported by the verses themselves or by the authorized notes provided.