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Paolo Malatesta (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpaːolo malaˈtɛsta]; c. 1246 – 1285), also known as il Bello ('the Beautiful'), was the third son of Malatesta da Verucchio, lord of Rimini. He is best known for the story of his affair with Francesca da Polenta, portrayed by Dante in a famous episode of his Inferno (Canto V).
- Uberto I di Ghiaggiolo
- circa 1246, Verucchio
- Uberto II Malatesta
- Who Were Paolo and Francesca?
- Marriage by Trickery
- Waking Up to The Ugly Truth
- Paolo Makes His Move
- The Lovers Are Discovered
- A Love Immortalized in Word and Stone
- Rodin's The Kiss
- Suggested Reading
- Comments
Paolo and Francesca were illicit lovers in 13th-century Italy, and they have left us with a story that, like all good love stories, ends in tragedy. Paolo Malatesta was the third son of the lord of Rimini, Malatesta da Verucchio, and accounts of his personality vary. He was deemed by some to be a romantic sort, a man not really interested in the wo...
When Guido I eventually found it expedient to make peace with his enemy, Malatesta da Verucchio, Paolo's father, he decided to seal the deal by marrying his daughter, Francesca, off to one of Malatesta's sons as a cunning political tie. Unfortunately, his choice of husband had to be Malatesta's eldest son, Giovanni (aka Gianciotto), who has been va...
Francesca had fallen instantly in love with the dashing Paolo and must have thought herself the luckiest girl in the world, so we can only imagine her feelings of horror when she awoke on the morning after her wedding night to find herself lying beside the 'deformed' Giovanni instead. Presumably it had been possible for the brothers to switch place...
Conversely, we can never know if Paolo really loved Francesca. In the time-honoured way of the typical Italian male it could be that his brother's wife represented a challenge he simply could not resist. But history tells us that they did indeed become lovers and that Francesca's husband, Giovanni, almost caught them in the act.
Whatever the truth of this love affair, Giovanni did not stop to ask questions. It is recorded that he found his wife's bedroom door locked and demanded to be admitted. He had been told of the affair by his servant and was determined to catch the lovers in flagrante. Paolo leapt towards a trapdoor in the floor as Francesca went to open the door and...
But the love story of Paolo and Francesca was far from forgotten. The poet, Dante Alighieri, a contemporary of Paolo and Francesca, took their story and wove it into his famous poem, Divine Comedy. Although it is not know whether or not Dante actually knew them personally their tragedy had certainly caught his imagination. In Canto V of the Inferno...
The original title for Rodin's famous sculpture 'The Kiss' was 'Francesca da Rimini' before he was persuaded to change its name. The subject matter of this brave piece made it controversial for many years as Rodin intended to show that women were not just passive subjects when it came to sexual relations. He wanted to show that women also had sexua...
anna koltaion November 21, 2018: The artist "Lajos" is not his second name but first. He is from Hungary, we write names in the opposite order. His family name is Gulácsy. John Hansenfrom Australia (Gondwana Land) on October 12, 2015: Yes they are Ian. She was a very talented writer and I feel unfortunate that I didn't know her before now while she...
Nov 3, 2021 · The writer framed one of the most famous incidents in his epic poem—the tragic story of real-life lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Polenta —as a cautionary tale against succumbing to...
Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was a medieval noblewoman of Ravenna, who was murdered by her husband, Giovanni Malatesta, upon his discovery of her affair with his brother, Paolo Malatesta.
Here, among various figures of Dante’s acquaintance, he encounters the shades of Francesca di Rimini and her lover Paolo Malatesta, the younger brother of her husband, Giovanni Malatesta of Rimini, who murdered them both in a jealous rage.
Francesca was the sister-in-law of Paolo Malatesta, and both were married, but they fell in love. Their tragic adulterous story was told by Dante in his Divine Comedy , Canto V of the Inferno , and was a popular subject with Victorian artists and sculptors, especially with followers of the Pre-Raphaelite ideology, and with other writers.
Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta are punished together in hell for their adultery: Francesca was married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto ("Crippled John"). Francesca's shade tells Dante that her husband is destined for punishment in Caina--the infernal realm of familial betrayal named after Cain, who killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8 ...
