Lanfranchi

Profile

In the XXXIII canto of the Inferno, during Ugolino's premonitory dream, the word Lanfranchi appears together with the names of the Gualandi and Sismondi families as pursuers of the count and his sons. The note to verse 32 specifies that these are the three principal families of the Ghibelline faction of Pisa, headed by the archbishop of the Ubaldini. The introductory note on Ugolino adds that in 1288 the Ghibelline faction, headed by Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini and the powerful Gualandi, Sismondi, and Lanfranchi families, rose up against the two lords and seized power. Dante thus names the Lanfranchi as a component of the faction that attacked Ugolino, without identifying any individual member.