Guelph-Ghibelline conflicts convulse Florence

1277

The uneasy peace in Florence between papal Guelphs and imperial Ghibellines broke down again amid factional murders and expulsions. The bitter local politics would shape Dante's life a generation later and provide most of the damned souls for his Inferno. The conflict was less about ideology than about control of the city's lucrative banking and wool industries, with families choosing sides for commercial advantage.