This plaque is located in Piazza della Signoria, within the inner courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio.
Inferno – canto X – vv 91 – 93
” . . . FV’ IO SOL COLà DOVE SOFFERTO
FV PER CIASCVUN DI TòRRE VIA FIORENZA
COLVI CHE LA DIFESI A VISO APERTO. “
“I was the only one present in that place where everyone else (the Florentines) would have agreed to see Florence wiped away; I was the one who defended her openly (with courage and without hiding).”
Farinata degli Uberti, addressing Dante, proudly recalls his crucial role at a specific historical moment. With the expression “là dove sofferto / fu per ciascun di tòrre via Fiorenza” (where it was agreed by everyone to do away with Florence), he refers to the Council of Empoli in 1260. Following the crushing Ghibelline victory at Montaperti, all the exiled and victorious leaders agreed on the necessity of demolishing and erasing Florence to definitively eliminate the Guelph faction.
However, Farinata firmly emphasizes: “Ma fu’ io solo” (But I was the only one); he boasts of being the only Ghibelline representative to stand strongly against this resolution that would have destroyed the city. He reiterates that he defended her “a viso aperto” (with an open face), meaning his defense was public, explicit, and full of courage. These verses highlight Farinata’s great nobility of spirit and his profound patriotism—qualities that Dante, despite being his political adversary and finding him among the damned heretics, deeply respects and admires.
Dante places this character among the heresiarchs of the Sixth Circle of Hell, accusing him of Epicureanism.
