The Violently Slain: Buonconte and La Pia

Dante and Virgil encounter a group of souls who died by violence but repented at the last moment. They sing the Miserere. One of them, Buonconte di Montefeltro, tells how he was wounded in the throat at Campaldino and died fleeing, but was saved by a single tear of repentance. He describes how a demon and an angel fought for his soul, and how the demon caused a storm that swept his body into the Arno. Another soul, La Pia, asks Dante to remember her: she was from Siena and was killed in Maremma by her husband. This episode emphasizes the power of even the smallest act of repentance to save a soul.