Ruggieri degli Ubaldini

Born in Mugello to the powerful family of the counts of Pila, Ruggieri was the son of Ubaldino and the nephew of cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini.

Ruggieri initially tried to settle the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines in favor of the latter, but soon (posing as Nino's friend) played them off against each other in an attempt to finish off them both.

According to contemporary chroniclers, followed by Dante, he captured Ugolino by deception - it is definite that he imprisoned him, his two sons and his two grandsons in the Torre della Muda, where they died.

His tomb was once in the cloister of the monastery attached to the church of Santa Maria in Gradi, Viterbo (now the headquarters of the Tuscia University), but is now lost.

Ruggieri appears in canto XXXIII of Dante's Inferno, in the second band of the ninth circle, in Antenora, where traitors are punished.