A temporary resident of Verona; a permanent memorial. Dante Alighieri, the poet we know simply as Dante, lived in Verona for five years, from 1312 to 1318, a supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor party, the Guelphs; against the Pope's party, the Ghibellines.
Dante Alighieri, Monument, Memorial statue, Verona, Italy. Piazza dei Signori.
The Guelphs later divided into the White Guelphs (Dante's group) and the Black Guelphs, no racial reference. As a White Guelph, and here history is beyond me, he had to leave Florence and ended up in Verona. And elsewhere in Italy, traveling about. Writing. Falling in love. Describing hell. Is that so? Not in that order. See ://www.online-literature.com/dante/ Verona was not unique in housing him.In his "Purgatory", Dante refers to Montecchio's and Capelletti, and their sadness; some think the story might, just might, have taken place at that time, perhaps. See Dante's Verona at ://www.veronissima.com/sito_inglese/html/topic_dante.html, referencing Shakespeare's later story we know as Romeo and Juliet. Montagues and Capulets.
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Tombs of the Scaligeri in Verona.
The Scaligeri family ruled Verona in the 1300's-1400's. The name, Cangrande, for one of them, means "Big Dog" and there are several on the tomb.
Scaglieri tomb, Cangrande perhaps, Verona, ItalyOne story behind the obsession with canine names in the Scaglieri family is this: That the Polos returned from the Far East talking of the might of the Khan, and the Khan was translated into a spelling like Cane, which resembled Dog. The Scaglieris would not be outdone by some dog from the east, so the tradition of outdoing began. Was that in Rick Steves' guidebook? Will check. The memorial to the Scalieri Family is, as any other name in another language or earlier time, spelled variously: also spelled Della Scala, or Scaligeri.
Frommer's guide says that many others in the family took on dog names, including one called the Mastiff, see ://www.frommers.com/destinations/verona/A33548.html/. We are looking for other accounts of the original idea, going back earlier, that the family's obsession with things dog stemmed from a misinterpretation - not "dogs" at all. The NYT does not mention it. See ://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/italy/verona/33548/arche-scaligeri-scaligeri-tombstorre-dei-lamberti/attraction-detail.html/
Scaglieri Family Tomb, Cangrande, Big Dog, Verona, Italy.
See the history of the family and Verona at this google book, http://books.google.com/books?id=XixojYgnRtsC&pg=RA1-PA388&lpg=RA1-PA388&dq=canines+Verona+Italy&source=bl&ots=dqp-W_ClYr&sig=6I2SIQ5b3MdyOtP8FvaJI_a8MnU&hl=en&ei=IoTPSqinHYjllAfIuZmpCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false/. This is from Italy, page 389.
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