Farfarello

Farfarello is one of the Malebranche, the twelve demons who patrol the Fifth Bolgia of the Eighth Circle of Hell, where the sin of barratry (political corruption) is punished by immersion in boiling pitch. He is named in the infernal roll call that Malacoda, the troop's leader, recites when assigning an escort to guide Dante and Virgil past a broken bridge. Farfarello's presence in this demonic company, alongside figures such as Alichino, Calcabrina, and Barbariccia, marks him as a functionary of a grotesque bureaucracy that administers torment with a blend of bureaucratic formality and sadistic glee. His name, like those of his fellows, carries a grotesque, almost farcical quality, fitting the dark comedy that pervades the Malebranche episodes.

Role in the Escort and the Escape of Ciampolo

When Malacoda selects ten devils to accompany the poets, Farfarello is among those summoned: "Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, / And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, / And Farfarello and mad Rubicante" (Inferno, Canto XXI). The group is placed under the command of Barbariccia, who is instructed to lead them along the left bank of the pitch-filled moat. During the subsequent interrogation of the Navarrese sinner Ciampolo, Farfarello is specifically mentioned as the target of a warning from the "grand Provost" (Barbariccia), who tells him, "Stand aside there, thou malicious bird" (Inferno, Canto XXII). This command comes after Ciampolo, terrified by the devils' threats, offers to lure other Italian sinners to the surface if the Malebranche will hold back. Farfarello's aggressive posture—rolling his eyes as if to strike—reveals his eagerness to inflict pain, a trait that Barbariccia must restrain to allow Ciampolo's scheme to unfold. The episode culminates in Ciampolo's escape, which throws the devils into a chaotic, self-destructive brawl, leaving the poets to slip away.

Thematic Significance: Infernal Bureaucracy and Comic Malice

Farfarello and the Malebranche represent a distinct tier of infernal punishment: the administration of divine justice through demonic agents who are themselves corrupt and violent. Unlike the solitary monsters encountered earlier in Hell, these devils operate as a squad, with a hierarchy, a leader, and a shared, if treacherous, purpose. Their behavior—gnashing teeth, making obscene signals, and turning on one another—parodies human military and civic order, reducing it to a spectacle of brutish self-interest. Farfarello's role, though minor, contributes to this parody: he is a cog in a machine of torment that is both terrifying and absurd. The episode also serves as a narrative turning point, for it is immediately after escaping the Malebranche that Dante and Virgil enter the Sixth Bolgia of the Hypocrites, where the tone shifts from the raucous violence of the pitch to the silent, crushing weight of gilded lead. Farfarello, then, is a figure of the infernal grotesque, embodying the chaotic energy that divine justice permits to operate within the strict bounds of Hell's architecture.