Vitaliano

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In Canto XVII of the Inferno, a damned soul among the usurers addresses Dante, mentioning his own neighbor, called by name. The critical note on the passage identifies this Vitaliano as Vitaliano del Dente, a Paduan knight and podestà of Padua in 1307, whose name appears in various disputes and lawsuits over loans. The same note observes that Dante's familiarity with Paduan affairs may date back to his first stay in Verona with the Scaligeri. The passage thus places the figure in the seventh circle, among the violent against nature and art in the round of the usurers, alongside figures of Florentine origin and at least one other Paduan.