Prince Corradino

Corradino is the exiled Swabian claimant whose fortunes the old Ghibelline shoemaker Cincolo still curses Guelphs over, a boy of sixteen with marble-pale cheeks and a dignity beyond his years. He arrives at Cincolo's door in a cap drawn low, half-hiding the chestnut curls, and the household's deference to him betrays what his silence will not. His youth against the city's long, bloody Guelph-Ghibelline feud is the story's central pressure: whether such a slight figure can carry the weight of a party's last hopes.