Saint Zita

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In the XXI canto of the Inferno, a devil from the squad of the Malebranche is qualified by the verse «ecco un de li anzïan di Santa Zita!» (v. 38), which presents him as one of the elders of the commune of Santa Zita. The authorized note for the same canto explains that the «Anziani» (Elders) were the supreme magistracy of Lucca, a college of citizens who in the Communes supported the podestà in the government of the city, and connects the qualification to the devil engaged in running on tiptoe with a sinner loaded on his shoulder. The proper name of this Malebranche is not indicated either by the verse or by the notes provided. No other biographical data on the historical figure of Saint Zita emerges from the verses-ancora and the authorized notes, nor her placement in a different circle or ledge of Hell.