Pia de' Tolomei

Pia de' Tolomei was an Italian noblewoman from Siena identified as "la Pia," a minor character in Dante's Divine Comedy who was murdered by her husband without seeking absolution. Her brief presence in the poem has inspired many works in art, music, literature, and cinema. Her character in the Divine Comedy is noted for her compassion and serves a greater program among the characters in her canto, as well as the female characters in the entire poem.

In the Divine Comedy

La Pia According to a tradition recorded by early commentators of the Divine Comedy, Pia de' Tolomei is identified as "la Pia" in Canto V of Purgatorio. In this canto, Dante and Virgil encounter souls who repented at the time of their violent deaths and now reside in the second division of Ante-Purgatory, which is at the base of the mountain of Purgatory. La Pia's tale follows the violent stories of Buonconte da Montefeltro and Jacopo del Cassero where she briefly says:

Pia tells Dante that she came from Siena and implies that her husband killed her in Maremma. She also asks Dante, once he has rested from his journey, to remember her in his prayers when he returns to Earth (because prayers can shorten her time in Purgatory) since she knows no one else on Earth will pray for her. La Pia additionally stresses the importance of Dante's prayer by using the imperative form of remember. Prayer is a joint activity in turning to God that strengthens human bonds, which has been likened to a city; the city of Siena has been argued to be seen as a purgatorial city where its population is on the journey to salvation. This line also echoes Virgil's epitaph ("Mantua gave me birth, Calabria took me off") which highlights the cyclic nature of Pia’s life while simultaneously emphasizing the brevity of her life on Earth. thumb Pia de' Tolomei by Raffaele GiannettiFurthermore, Pia's remarkable capacity for forgiveness is demonstrated in her replacement of her husband with Maremma as the grammatical subject of her murder. This compassion juxtaposes the allusion to her violent death, concluding the canto with a sense of absolution. This sweeping absolution contributes to the overarching compassion that characterizes this canto. La Pia de' Tolomei: leggenda romantica, verse novella by Bartolomeo Sestini (1822) in which la Pia dies by malaria. in which Nello's henchmen poison la Pia. La Pia, dalla Divina Commedia di Dante, melody by Antonino Palminteri (circa 1881) Dante's Prayer, song by Loreena McKennitt in the album The Book of Secrets (1997) ¿Pia?, one-act musical dialogue by Azio Corghi (libretto by Azio Corghi, freely adapting "Il dialogo della palude" by M. Yourcenar) (premiere 9 July 2004) La Divina Commedia, opera by Marco Frisina (2007) Pia come la canto io, concept album by Gianna Nannini (2007) La Pia de' Tolomei, rock opera by Gianna Nannini, libretto by Pia Pera (2010) ‘Ptolemaea’ from the concept album, Preachers Daughter by Ethel Cain (2022)

Cinema Pia de' Tolomei, directed by Gerolamo Lo Savio (1910) Pia de' Tolomei, directed by Esodo Pratelli (1941) Pia de' Tolomei, directed by Sergio Grieco (1958)