Paolo Malatesta was the son of Malatesta da Verrucchio (the “Mastin Vecchio”) and Concordia di Enrichetto, born probably before the middle of the twelfth century. The first document that mentions him is a letter that attests the great gratification offered by Pope Urban IV to his family, around 1263-1264, to reward him for his devotion to the Holy See. In 1269, Paolo married Orabile Beatrice, related to the count family of Ghiaggiolo, with whom he had two children, Uberto and Margherita (who died in 1311). Their union made it possible to reinforce the rights of the Malatesta family to the inheritance of the house of Ghiaggiolo, but causes a dynastic rivalry with Guido, Count of Montefeltro, also attached to this family by his marriage to Manentessa di Ghiaggiolo.
The historical traces that testify to the life of Paolo tell us very little about who he was. He probably stayed in Rimini, with his father and brothers, to defend the interests of his family and support the cause of the Guelphs, as attested by an act of procuration in 1276. In 1282, he was in Florence where he held the position of captain of the people, committed to maintaining peace. On February 1, 1283, he retired from his position and returned to Rimini. Shortly after, his extra-marital relationship with Francesca da Polenta, the wife of his brother Gianciotto, is discovered and the two lovers were then murdered by the brother (Inf. 5, 82-138). Historians date the murder to around 1283-1284.
The circumstances of the meeting between Paolo and Francesca are unknown to us. The historical reconstruction, certainly partial, reveals nevertheless a dense relational network between the Dantean characters of the Rimini and Ravenna area, and between those who frequented the court circles of the Malatesta and the Polenta.
Dante’s poetry allows to palliate the historical nebulosity of Paolo, even if this figure is supplanted by the strong personality of the figure of Francesca. In the Comedy, we find the two lovers in the fifth canto of the Inferno among the lustful. Dante approaches the two damned lovers with both pity and reserve. The two figures reveal themselves at first to Dante as two indistinct beings: their outlines (Inf. 5, 74) slowly become clearer and are charged with painful humanity. They are tormented by the infernal storm (v. 80 “wearied souls”) that punishes the lustful, then tried by the reminiscence of the outrage suffered during their existence (v. 109 “afflicted souls”). They are also presented in the form of birds, transfigured by the poetic imagination of Dante (“As doves, summoned by desire, their wings / outstretched and motionless, move on the air…” v. 82-83). Francesca refers to her lover only by “this man” (v. 101, 134). Once she confides her secret to the poet, the other cries in silence. It is only in Inf. 6, 2, that Dante thinks of the pity he feels for these two souls.
Consult the entry of the Enciclopedia Dantesca in Italian.
Entry taken from the Enciclopedia Dantesca published by the Istituto Treccani — Texts revised by the Centre d’études médiévales of the Université de Montréal.
Editing: Gabrielle Hamelin, Martyna Kander.
English translation: Brittany Buscio.