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Medieval Florentine knight From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Schicchi (died c. February 1280)[citation needed] was a medieval knight of Florence in the thirteenth century. His life, including his crime of fraud by being a talented imposter, is detailed by Dante in the Inferno, which inspired a Puccini opera and a later play. Dante's depiction of Schicchi's eternal punishment with insanity in hell inspired a painting by Bouguereau.
There is not much historical information about him, but taking Dante's reference to him as a starting point, commentators have portrayed a biography of him that largely follows the passage of the Inferno – (Canto trentesimo, vv. 32-33 and 42-45). In the forger's edict, he is condemned for "personal falsification", that is for having cheated others by taking the place of Buoso Donati il Vecchio.
The question widely debated by the glossators, albeit with some differences but substantially the same, is that this Schicchi was famous for the imitations of people and that when the rich widower and childless Buoso died, he, at the request of his friend Simone Donati, Buoso's nephew, sneaked into the bed of the deceased shortly after his death and called a notary and dictated a will in favor of Simone, which was promptly ratified. For himself, it seems that he was entitled only one mare (quoted by Dante) which is an indication of the burlesque and novella character of what happened.
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