Neri

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The Neri constituted one of the two factions into which Pistoia was divided at the beginning of the fourteenth century, opposed as Bianchi and Neri also in Florence and in other Tuscan cities. According to the note on the verse, at first Pistoia empties itself of its own population (si dimagra) by expelling the Neri: the Pistoian Bianchi gained the upper hand in May 1301, with the help of the Florentines, and the leaders of the Black faction were banished. The prophetic verse of Vanni Fucci then announces a similar political upheaval in Florence, where the Black faction would in turn triumph, bringing about the expulsion of the Bianchi, among whom was Dante himself. The Neri do not appear as characters in the scene of the canto: they are only mentioned, as a historical element, within the prophecy.