We have watched a sinner burn up from a snakebite and reconstitute right in front of the pilgrim Dante's eyes. But who is this damned guy? The answer to that question is as complicated as it gets.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we explore the revelation of the sinner (Vanni Fucci), the problems with the historical record, and his sin (theft, although maybe not).

Vanni Fucci comes shrouded in historical ambiguities. And he comes into INFERNO comes hauling behind him a giant prophecy about Dante's fate in exile.

 Here are the segments of this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:30] My English translation of INFERNO, Canto XXIV, lines 121 - 151. If you’d like to read along, just scroll down this page.

[04:28] The revelation of who this is: Vanni Fucci.

[09:40] What does Dante the pilgrim want to know? And did Dante the poet actually know Vanni Fucci?

[14:09] The first part of Vanni Fucci's reply: shame.

[17:31]            The second part of Vanni Fucci's reply: the confession of his crime.

[24:13] The third part of Vanni Fucci's reply: the (ostensible) "prophecy" of the Black/White Guelph war in Tuscany that will lead to the poet's exile.

[28:15] Three points about this prophecy: its metamorphoses and metaphorics.

[31:21]            One final point about Fucci's prophecy: it's the last of four such prophecies given to Dante the pilgrim in INFERNO (Ciacco's in Canto VI, Farinata's in Canto X, Brunetto Latini's in Canto XV, and Fucci's here).

[33:51] The final revelation of Fucci's motives: to make the pilgrim suffer. Nobody gets out of hell unscathed.

And here is my English translation of Inferno, Canto XXIV, Lines 121 – 151

Then my guide asked the guy who he was,

So he came back with this: “I rained down from Tuscany

A little while ago, right into this fierce maw.

 

“I liked to live a bestial life, not a human one,

So it’s no surprise that I was a mule. I’m Vanni Fucci,

The beast, and I denned down in Pistoia.”

 

I to my guide, “Tell him not to slink away

By asking him what sin got him thrown down here,

Because I know him as a blood-thirsty and cruel man.”

 

When he overheard me, the sinner didn’t play around.

Instead, he did an about-face to confront me head on

And got painted with acrid shame.

 

He said, “It causes me more suffering that you have caught me

In the misery where you see me now

Than I ever felt when I was torn out of my former life.

 

“I can’t even nix a reply to what you ask.

I got shoved down here because I swiped

The gorgeous pieces from the church’s sacristy,

 

“Although others took the blame for the crime.

But so that you may not take any joy from seeing me down here,

And if you ever get away from this dark spot,

 

“Open your ears to what I’ve got to say and catch this:

Pistoia first gets rid of its Blacks,

Then Florence renovates its people and ways.

 

“Next, out of the Valley of Magra, Mars pulls

A lightening bolt out of a bunch of threatening clouds,

Along with a sudden and bitter tempest,

 

“All as they hurry on to war above Campo Piceno.

That bolt will tear clear the mist and fog

So that the Whites will feel the hard blows.

What’s more, I’m just telling you this to make you suffer!”