Beatrice "
Bice"
di Folco Portinari (pronounced , 1266–1290) was a
Florentine woman who has been commonly identified as the principal inspiration for
Dante Alighieri's
Vita Nuova, and is also commonly identified with the
Beatrice who appears as one of his guides in the
Divine Comedy (
La Divina Commedia) in the last book,
Paradiso, and in the last four cantos of
Purgatorio. There she takes over as guide from the Latin poet
Virgil because, as a
pagan, Virgil cannot enter Paradise and because, being the incarnation of beatific love, as her name implies, it is Beatrice who leads into the
Beatific vision.