Dante Alighieri, the medieval Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedy , is the most famous person exiled from Florence.

Quick Scoop

  • Dante was a prominent citizen of Florence, involved in its turbulent politics at the turn of the 14th century.
  • He belonged to the White Guelph faction, which opposed strong papal control over the city.
  • In 1302, after their rivals (the Black Guelphs) seized power with support from the Pope, Dante was condemned on charges of corruption and financial wrongdoing.
  • He was sentenced to exile and threatened with death by burning at the stake if he ever returned to Florence without paying a heavy fine, which he refused to do.
  • Dante never returned to his hometown; he spent the rest of his life wandering between various Italian courts and died in Ravenna.

So, when people ask “who was exiled from Florence?”, the classic answer is Dante Alighieri—the city’s most famous poet, later celebrated as the “father of the Italian language.”

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