Commentary Par XV 106

The line has caused difficulty.  The early commentators thought it referred to thirteenth-century Florentine luxurious housing, the early Renaissance equivalent of McMansions, showier houses than family life required; later ones believed that Dante was referring to marriages that were only for show, allowing the couple to lead dissolute lives.  Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Par.XV.106), reviewing the dispute, sides with the older view, because it better accords with the context, which is unnecessary luxury, as the following two lines demonstrate.