(also , "John Paul") is the accepted name of a character in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian people, Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', origin ...

's ''

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature ...

''. Ciampolo appears in Canto XXII of the

Inferno Inferno may refer to: * Hell, an afterlife place of suffering * Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire Film * ''L'Inferno'', a 1911 Italian film * Inferno (1953 film), ''Inferno'' (1953 film), a film noir by Roy Ward Baker * Inferno (1973 fi ...

, where he is a grafter in the fifth ditch of the eighth circle. Ciampolo is hooked by the devils (the , "Evil Claws") who patrol that ditch, and pulled out of the boiling pitch where the grafters are immersed, which represents their sticky fingers and corrupt deals. Threatened by the devils, Ciampolo tells Dante the identity of some of the other grafters punished there. Ciampolo eventually tricks the devils, and makes his escape back to the boiling pitch. Dante does not identify Ciampolo by name, but his name was provided by early commentators. Nothing else is really known about him other than the information provided by Dante: that he was born in Navarre, that his father was a wastrel, and that he served King

Theobald II of Navarre Theobald II or ''Thibaud'', es, Teobaldo (6/7 December 1239 – 4/5 December 1270) was King of Navarre and also, as Theobald V, Count of Champagne and Brie, from 1253 until his death. He was the son and successor of Theobald I and the second ...

References

External links

Original text and commentaries across centuries
of Canto 22, line 48 and following, from Dartmouth Dante Project. Male characters in literature Characters in the Divine Comedy 13th-century people from the Kingdom of Navarre {{lit-char-stub