Pier Traversaro

Profile

Pier Traversaro is counted by Dante among the liberal and courteous lords of past times, whose names resound full of nostalgia in Purgatorio. He belonged to the noble Traversari family, was a Ghibelline, and lived in the time of Frederick II. He held the lordship of Ravenna between 1218 and 1225, the year of his death. He too, like the other names recalled in that passage, was famous for his liberality. His fame is tied to Dante's verses, which rescued him from oblivion, making him shine as an example of a courtesy now lost.