In the 20th canto of Paradise, set in the sixth heaven of Jupiter, the supreme poet Dante Alighieri recalls the prosperity of Sicily resulting from the good government of William II, placing him among the spirits of the righteous princes glorified in Paradise. In particular, Dante dedicates verses 61-63 to the Sicilian sovereign: “And he whom in the downward arc thou seest, / William was, whom the same land deplores, / That weepeth Charles and Frederick yet alive” dwelling on how well William was remembered and mourned in Sicily and Apulia, now ruled by Frederick II of Aragon and Charles II of Anjou.
