Career
He was a merchant banker who, with others, lent money under usurious conditions during the crusades with the consent and support of the papacy. In 1257 Cavalcanti served as Podestà (chief magistrate) of the Umbrian city of Gubbio. Following the 1260 victory of the Ghibellines over the Florentine Guelphs in the Battle of Montaperti, Calvancanti went into exile in Lucca in Tuscany.
Despite Cavalcanti"s alignment with the papacy-supporting Guelphs, he was denounced as a heretic.
Dante represents Cavalcanti and Farinata as neighbors in the same tomb in Hell, but without any interaction between them.