Thanks to Dante, we know the tragic story of Francesca da Polenta, better known as “Francesca da Rimini” after her marriage.

In 1275, Guido Minore da Polenta, lord of Ravenna and Cervia, gave his daughter Francesca in marriage to Giovanni Malatesta, known as Gianciotto because of his lameness, thereby strengthening a political alliance. From this marriage arose the famous tragic story recounted by Dante in Canto V of the Inferno, dedicated precisely to “Paolo and Francesca.”

Francesca, born around 1260, stayed in Polenta, where the family felt safer from political rivalries. Here, near the ancient Parish Church of San Donato, Carducci writes that Francesca “tempered her burning eyes with laughter.”

Even today, on one of the hills near Polenta, there stands a cypress tree dedicated to her. The original tree, struck by lightning, was replaced in 1897 by Carducci himself.