Sassol Mascheroni

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Sassol Mascheroni is a Florentine figure cited by Dante in Canto XXXII of the Inferno. The only fact that can be documented from the verses provided is that the poet names him explicitly in the text, identifying him by the name Sassol Mascheroni. Lacking further verses that might specify his biographical data, actions, or genealogical position, the entry limits itself to recording the textual mention. The authorized critical note regarding the same passage deals with the identification of the figure who, with a single lance thrust, had split both the breast and the shadow together, a legendary character from the Arthurian cycle (Mordred), without providing any elements concerning the personal history of Sassol Mascheroni. The presence of his name alongside that of Focaccia and the Conti Alberti places the figure in the list of traitors whom Dante evokes as immersed in the ice of Cocytus, whatever the precise historical cause of his inclusion among them.