"NOW GO," HE SAID, "FOR HIM MOST GUILTY OF IT AT A BEAST'S TAIL BEHOLD I DRAGGED ALONG TOWARDS THE VALLEY WHERE IS NO REPENTANCE. FASTER AT EVERY STEP THE BEAST IS GOING, INCREASING EVERMORE UNTIL IT SMITES HIM, AND LEAVES THE BODY VILELY MUTILATED.
DANTE, PURG., XXIV, 82-87
Dante alludes to Corso Donati, leader of the Black Guelphs, condemned by the Florentine Signoria in 1308. Pursued by the people, who wanted to take revenge for his misdeeds, he fell from his horse and got caught in a stirrup in an attempt to escape; his enemies finished him off near the Church of San Michele a San Salvi (where this plaque is). Dante chooses to put him among the traitors, attached to the tail of a horse running faster and faster, dragged to hell where there is no possible expiation.
Lapide Dantesca: Chiesa di San Salvi
Piazza di S. Salvi, Firenze
