CAVALCANTI, GUIDO (c. 1250-1300), Italian poet and philosopher, was the son of a philosopher whom Dante, in the Inferno, condemns to torment among the epicureans and atheists; but he himself was a friend of the poet. By marriage with Be atrice, daughter of Farinata Uberti, he became head of the Ghi bellines. He was banished to Sarzana, where he caught a fever, of which he died. Cavalcanti has left a number of love sonnets and canzoni, in honor of a French lady, whom he calls Mandetta. His complete poetical works are contained in Giunti's collection (Florence, 1527; Venice, 1531-32).
The most famous of his sonnets and canzoni are translated by D. G. Rossetti in his Dante and his Circle (1874).