Ciampolo

In Dante's poetic cosmology the figure identified by commentators as Ciampolo is presented as a former servant and corrupt official from Navarre. The canto records him saying he was born in the kingdom of Navarre, that his mother placed him in service to a lord, that he served King Theobald II (Thibault) and that he practised barratry (corrupt solicitation). Dante's poem itself does not supply the proper name; the name "Ciampolo" (also attested as Giampolo, a contraction of Giovanni Paolo) is an identification supplied by early commentators and later tradition linking the anonymous speaker to a recognizable historical type.

Dante's text places Ciampolo immersed in boiling pitch in the fifth bolgia reserved for grafters. He is physically hooked and hauled out of the pitch by the Malebranche devils; illustrations and commentary emphasize the scene of his extraction and torment rather than individual physiognomic detail. The poem gives no descriptive clothing or personal features beyond his state as a sinner in the pitch and the violent handling by infernal custodians.

Ciampolo possesses no supernatural powers in the sources; his actions are human behaviors narrated by Dante. When hauled out of the pitch he speaks with Dante and Virgil, naming other grafters and recounting his origin and sin. He displays cunning and deceit: under threat from the Malebranche he manipulates them—provoking quarrel and confusion among the devils—and uses that ruse to escape back into the boiling pitch. These capacities are presented as consistent with his earthly vice (barratry) rather than as magical abilities.