Tegghiaio Aldobrandi

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Tegghiaio Aldobrandi is recalled by Cacciaguida in Canto XVI of the Inferno as one of the Florentines of the good old times. The verses cite him together with Guido Guerra, described as the grandson of the good Gualdrada, in a passage in which Dante's great-great-grandfather laments the Florence of the past, contrasting it with the present situation. The notes to the canto specify that the name of Tegghiaio is introduced by the image of the "voice in the world" worn down by people: an expression which, according to the critical annotation, is to be understood as a periphrasis for "goes about," underscoring the wretched condition in which he who was once famous now finds himself. The note also compares the figure of Guido Guerra, a preeminent Guelph leader, to a "Farinata of the Guelph party," to explain the resonance of the hemistich that announces his name. No further biographical detail about Tegghiaio himself emerges from the verses and notes provided.