Giudecca

Original painting by Michele Petrelli ©

Fourth area of Cocito, called Giudecca, where those who betrayed their benefactors suffer. Here none of the damned souls speak, none are identified: totally imprisoned in ice, they can barely be glimpsed, motionless in the most diverse positions. In the opaque air that hangs over the frozen marsh stands the gigantic bulk of Lucifer planted halfway up his chest in the swamp. He incessantly chews on three sinners who betrayed the two supreme authorities, the spiritual and the temporal: Judas, Brutus and Cassius. Above, the scornful gaze of Beatrice, Dante's inspirational muse. (web: michelepetrelliart.