The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Francesca da Rimini
(fränchs´kä dä r´mn) (KEY) , fl. 13th cent., Italian beauty, daughter of Guido da Polenta of Ravenna. She was married by proxy to the hunchbacked lord of Rimini, Gianciotto Malatesta; the proxy, Gianciottos young and handsome brother Paolo, became Francescas lover. Gianciotto, discovering their guilt, killed them. The story is immortalized in Dantes Divine Comedy and is the subject of many other literary and artistic works and of Tchaikovskys symphonic poem.