‘Ma qual Gherardo…’ Dante’s Serravalle and the Da Camino Ties

“The body must be nourished with bread, and the soul with art,” Gherardo had once said, stepping through the gate of the Castrum of Serravalle. He wished to show the exiled Florentine poet that, within those imposing and rugged walls, a haven of peace and harmony was hidden.

“Here in Serravalle we ensure the safety of merchants who carry food southward, and for that reason, this castle is a true fortress. But only our fellow citizens know what the Castrum truly holds within,” continued the lord of Treviso.

In that moment, a paradise opened before Dante’s eyes: a flourishing courtyard, framed by roses and shaded by dense canopies of leaves, its inner walls wrapped in a mantle of emerald-green ivy. Wildflowers scattered across the lawn burst with vivid colors, and tall maritime pines shielded the well from the sun.

Dante had been invited, a year after his arrival in Treviso, by Gherardo da Camino, lord of the city, to a banquet held in his honor at the Castle of Serravalle — one of the strategic strongholds in the lands ruled by Treviso’s lord. The poet, a restless wanderer, had found refuge with the noble family after being banished from his native Florence, accused of corruption and condemned to exile.

At that banquet, amidst exquisite dishes and refined delicacies, bread was never missing — just as Gherardo ensured it was never missing for his citizens, thanks to the Castrum’s solid protection. That same bread, which the Florentine poet had once found too salty, now seemed perfectly balanced to Dante’s taste.

Perhaps because, he mused, it was not only salt that seasoned it — but care and attention to the nourishment of the soul. At every banquet, at every courtly gathering, Gherardo would invite local painters, craftsmen, scholars, and poets. Every feast was an occasion to surround himself and his court with beauty.

It was not mere ostentation: it was his way of educating the people, spreading beauty wherever he could, so that all might access and understand it.

And perhaps for that reason, Dante had never truly felt far from home — for the Da Camino family’s hospitality was generous, always ready to nourish both body and spirit.It was perhaps during that banquet, while wine flowed lightly into cups and poetry intertwined once more with bread, that Gherardo — the humble and wise lord — smiled and gestured toward his daughter:

“I may not possess the art of poetry, messer Dante… but I promise my daughter will be worthy company.”

And the poet, seeing the delicate figure of the young woman, her golden hair framing her angelic features, turned to her with the epithet by which she is still remembered today:

“Lady Gaia,” he said, “in your name lies both grace and joy — and I ask you now to gift me your verses, that I may carry their echo with me, a balm for the days of exile.”

Read also Sofia's story A Warrior Countess: Sofia of Colfosco, a Da Camino Woman against an Emperor. Legend and History at the Medieval Castle of Vittorio Veneto