waits
  The soul who spilt our life’ Such were their words,
  At hearing which downward I bent my looks
  And held them there so long that the bard cried
  ‘What art thou pondering?’ I in answer thus
  ‘Alas’ by what sweet thoughts, what fond desire
  Must they at length to that ill pass have reached’
  Then turning, I to them my speech address’d,
  And thus began ’Francesca! your sad fate
  Even to tears my grief and pity moves
  But tell me, in the time of your sweet sighs,
  By what, and how Love granted, that ye knew
  Your yet uncertain wishes?’ She replied
  ’No greater grief then to remember days
  Of joy when misery is at hand That kens
  Thy learn’d instructor Yet so eagerly
  If thou art bent to know the primal root
  From whence our love gat being, I will do
  As one who weeps and tells his tale One day
  For our delight we read of Lancelot,
  How him love thrall’d Alone we were and no
  Suspicion near us Oft-times by that reading
  Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue
  Fled from our altered cheek But at one point
  Alone we fell When of that smile we read,
  That wished smile, so rapturously kissed
  By one so deep in love, then he, who ne’er
  From me shall separate, at once my lips
  All trembling kissed The book and writer both
  Were love’s purveyors In its leaves that day
  We read no more’ While thus one spirit spake
  The other wailed so sorely, that heart-struck
  I, through compassion fainting, seem’d not far
  From death and like a corse fell to the ground”

With the name of Dante we come to the real importance Ravenna has for us in the Middle Age.  Dante, however, was not the guest of Guido Vecchio.  That great lord ruled in Ravenna as perpetual captain till his death in 1310, when he was succeeded by his son Lamberto who had for some time been the leading spirit in the city.  He altogether abolished the so-called democratic government, that is to say, the consulship which was filled in turn by two consuls, the one succeeding the other every fifteen days.  Lamberto made himself lord and reigned till 1316, when he was succeeded by his nephew Guido Novello, the consul of Cesena, who thus brought Cesena into the lordship.  It is with this man that a universal interest in Ravenna may be said for a moment to revive, for it was he who had the honour to be the host of Dante Alighieri.

Guido Novello was not a mere adventurer like Guido Vecchio, he was a man of considerable culture, with a love of learning and of the arts.  It was, as we shall see, at his earnest solicitation that Dante came to visit him, and if we may believe Vasari it was at the poet’s suggestion he invited Giotto to his court.  “As it had come to the ears of Dante that Giotto was in Ferrara, he so contrived that the latter was induced to visit Ravenna, where the poet was then in exile, and where Giotto painted some frescoes which are moderately good ... for the Signori da Polenta.”