Soldanieri

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The name of the Soldanieri appears in Canto XVI of the Paradiso, in the speech in which Cacciaguida recalls ancient Florence and its lineages, listing, in a single verse, several houses: «e Soldanieri e Ardinghi e Bostichi» (Par. XVI, 93). The note to Canto XXXII of the Inferno, dedicated to a member of the house, specifies that the Soldanieri were a noble Ghibelline family of Florence. This note also recalls the affairs of Gianni de' Soldanier, who, in 1266, after the death of Manfred, placed himself at the head of a tumult of the Guelph people against the Ghibellines, betraying his own side; driven from the city, he could never return to Florence. The same note indicates that Villani's Cronica numbers Gianni Soldanieri among the illustrious Florentines of the past who, like Dante, were shown ingratitude by the city. In the Paradiso tercet the Soldanieri have no speech of their own nor an individual role, but their mention places them symbolically alongside the Ardinghi and the Bostichi in the recollection of the Ghibelline Florence of the origins.