Ciacco

Ciacco, a Florentine glutton, is the first damned soul to engage in extended conversation with Dante Alighieri during his journey through Hell. Appearing in the Third Circle, he embodies the sin of gluttony through his eternal punishment and serves as a crucial prophetic voice, foretelling the violent political divisions that will tear his native city apart. His brief but significant encounter with the pilgrim establishes a pattern of political prophecy that recurs throughout the Inferno.

Identity and Punishment in the Third Circle

Ciacco is introduced in the Third Circle of Hell, where the gluttonous are punished. The circle is characterized by an eternal, maledict rain of "huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow" that pours down through the tenebrous air, making the earth noisome. The souls there are submerged in this foul mixture, and the monster Cerberus, with his three gullets, red eyes, unctuous black beard, large belly, and clawed hands, rends, flays, and quarters them. When Dante and Virgil approach, Cerberus displays his tusks, but Virgil throws handfuls of earth into his rapacious gullets, quieting him. Ciacco is one of the souls lying prone, but he sits upright as soon as he sees the travelers passing before him.

Conversation with Dante and Prophecy of Florence

Ciacco addresses Dante, asking him to recall him, saying, "Thyself wast made before I was unmade." Dante does not immediately recognize him, attributing this to the anguish of his punishment. Ciacco identifies himself: "You citizens were wont to call me Ciacco; For the pernicious sin of gluttony I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain." He explains that he is not alone, as all the souls there suffer the same penalty for the same sin. Dante, moved to tears by Ciacco's wretchedness, asks him about the future of Florence, which he calls "the divided city." He inquires if any just men remain and why such discord has assailed it. Ciacco prophesies that after long contention, the city will come to bloodshed, and the "rustic party" will drive the other out with much offence. He foretells that this victorious party will fall within three suns, and the other will rise again by force of him who is then on the coast. This party will hold its forehead high for a long while, keeping the other under heavy burdens. Ciacco concludes that the just are only two and are not understood, and that "Envy and Arrogance and Avarice Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled."

Knowledge of the Damned and Final Fate

Dante then asks Ciacco about the fates of several notable Florentines: Farinata degli Uberti, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, and others who set their thoughts on good deeds. Ciacco replies that they are among the blacker souls, weighed down by a different sin to the bottom of Hell, and that Dante can see them if he descends far enough. He asks Dante to bring him to the mind of others when he returns to the sweet world, then falls prone like the other blind souls. Virgil explains that Ciacco will wake no more until the angelic trumpet sounds on Judgment Day, when each soul will find his tomb, reassume his flesh, and hear what through eternity re-echoes. This exchange establishes Ciacco as a figure of political prophecy and a conduit for Dante's concern with the fate of his city, a theme that will be developed further in later encounters with Farinata and Brunetto Latini.