Who is the first soul Dante meets in Paradise?

Piccarda Donati is the first soul Dante meets in Paradise. He encounters her in Paradiso III, in the sphere of the Moon, where souls appear who were unable to keep their religious vows completely firm.

Piccarda had entered the convent of Santa Maria di Monticelli and joined the Poor Clares, but her brother Corso Donati forcibly removed her so that she could marry Rossellino della Tosa for political advantage. In the poem, she explains that she remained inwardly devoted to her vow even though external force disrupted her religious life. She appears with Constance of Sicily, whom Dante’s medieval sources likewise associated with removal from a convent.

The meeting introduces major ideas that shape the rest of Paradiso. Piccarda tells Dante that every blessed soul is perfectly content because each will agrees with God’s will; no soul envies a higher place. Readers sometimes confuse Piccarda with Constance because both appear together, or with figures Dante encounters later in higher spheres. Piccarda is nevertheless the first individual soul Dante and Beatrice meet after entering Paradise.