Dante the pilgrim has heard two dramatic speeches from characters whose deaths were full of Sturm und Drang. Now, a quiet, lone voice comes forward to tell an elliptical, enigmatic tale of her violent death in only seven lines (one of which is a dialogue marker).

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as we listen to "la Pia" and attempt to come to terms with her devastating speech which has befuddled commentators for over 700 years.

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

[01:32] My English translation of the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto V, lines 130 - 136. If you'd like to read along, print it off to make notes, or continue the conversation with me, please scroll down this page.

[06:28] Who is "la Pia"? An enduring mystery.

[12:16] Distinct interpretive knots in Pia's short speech.

[20:23] Pia's speech happens after the first moment of the veneration of the Virgin Mary in COMEDY. That placement can't be my mistake.

[22:17] Two ways to interpret Pia's speech.

[26:00] What can we make of the poetics of Pia's speech?

Here’s my English translation of Purgatorio, Canto V, Lines 130 – 136

“Hey, when you will be finally returned to the world

And rested from your long path,”

Followed a third spirit when the second was done,

“Remember me. I am La Pia.

Siena made me; Maremma unmade me,

As is well known to the one who was married to me

After he gave me the ring with his family’s stone in it.”