Piccarda

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In Purgatorio XXIV 10 Dante asks Forese Donati where Piccarda is, thus revealing her to be the sister of his interlocutor. In Paradiso III Piccarda herself presents herself to Dante as a virgin sister and nun in the monastery of Santa Chiara in Florence; she explains that Corso Donati, leader of the Black faction, dragged her by force from the cloister to give her in marriage to Rossellino della Tosa, an episode datable between 1283 and 1293. The soul then specifies that she is in the Heaven of the Moon, among the blessed who have only partially fulfilled their vow, and entrusts Dante with the task of making clear on earth that the peace of the blessed derives from the conformity of human will to the divine will. In Paradiso IV 97 Piccarda is again mentioned as a trustworthy source of the account just heard.