Jacopo del Cassero (Fano, c. 1260 -Oriago, 1298) was a magistrate andcondottiero from late medieval Italy. He appears as a character inDante Alighieri'sPurgatorio.
Jacopo del Cassero was born inFano around 1260. He was the son of Uguccione and was part of the powerfulGuelph family of Berarda. He was aGuelph magistrate ofFano, and between 1288 and 1289 he participated with theGuelphs of theMarche region allied withFlorence in theBattle of Campaldino against theGhibellines ofArezzo. Here is where he probably met Dante.[1]
Jacopo defendedBologna, a city of which he was mayor from 1296 to 1297, from the expansionist aims ofAzzo VIII d'Este, lord ofFerrara. In 1298, Jacopo was elected mayor ofMilan, and to reach the city he prudently decided to pass throughVenice by sea and continue by land, thus avoiding the territories of theEste family.[1] Despite this, while he was inPadua on the banks of theBrenta, near the marshes that surrounded the castle of Oriago, he was reached by assassins sent byAzzo VIII and was wounded in the leg and groin. He sought shelter in a swamp where he bled to death.[1]
Today his remains rest in the Church of San Pietro in Episcopio inFano after being kept until 1994 at the Church of San Domenico under the protection of theMadonna del Latte.
Jacopo del Cassero appears as a character in theDivine Comedy, composed between 1308 and 1321, where he is featured in canto 5 ofPurgatorio alongsidePia de' Tolomei andBonconte da Montefeltro.
Dante the pilgrim meets Jacopo among the souls who were victims of violent deaths and repented for their sins in the very last moments of their lives.[1] When these souls first take notice of the pilgrim, they are amazed by his mortal status, and thus flock around him to tell him of their stories. When Jacopo steps forward, he asks Dante to make the truth known to his relatives so that they pray for him and thus his time spent in Ante-Purgatory is shortened. He then proceeded to tell the pilgrim of the moment of his death.[2]
