Lioncel dal nido bianco

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In the simile of canto XXVII of the Inferno (v. 50) the lïoncel dal nido bianco is the heraldic image with which Dante compares the White Guelph party, led by the Ordelaffi of Forlì and in particular by Scarpetta, captain general of the exiled Florentine Whites from 1303. The authorized note to verse 45 explains that the scene is symmetrical to that of the eagle of the da Polenta which holds Ravenna beneath it: just as the green lion, the coat of arms of the Ordelaffi, is represented with claws beneath which the Ghibellines stand, so the lion cub from the white nest represents, by contrast, the White party with the Whites led by it. The figure is not a character present in the afterlife but an element of the political simile which the verse interweaves with the other heraldic images of the canto (the mastiff of the Malatesta, the eagle of the da Polenta). The name and the gesture of 'conducere' are derived exclusively from verse 50, where the lion cub is said 'conduire' (to lead) the White party.