In the footsteps of Dante Alighieri
[I have travelled around this part of Italy, and you can view my travel slideshows on travelswithmytoilet.weebly.com - to get access if you’re on Facebook, please send a Friend Request to Bob Glen].
Dante Alighieri (Italian c. 1265 – 1321), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His Divine Comedy is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language. His depictions of the kingdoms of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of Western art and literature.
Dante is known for establishing the use of the vernacular in literature at a time when most poetry was written in Latin, which was accessible only to the most educated readers. His use of the Tuscan dialect helped establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. He is described as the "father" of the Italian language, and in Italy he is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"). Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio are also called the tre corone ("three crowns") of Italian literature.
Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, in what is now Italy. His supposed “house” on via Santa Margherita wasn’t built till 1910! He claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans. His father was a White Guelph (a political alliance that supported the Papacy) who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. When he was 12, Dante was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati. The exact date of his marriage is not known, but before his exile in 1301, he had fathered three children with Gemma (Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia). Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino (June, 1289). Not much is known about Dante's education; he probably studied in a chapter school attached to the Franciscans of Santa Croce and the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella church in Florence. It is known that he studied law, rhetoric, philosophy, Tuscan poetry, the Provençal poetry of the troubadours, and the Latin writers of classical antiquity, including Cicero, Ovid and especially Virgil. To further his political career, he became a pharmacist (apothecary).
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (Dante's party), and the Black Guelphs. Dante was sent in a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Pope Boniface VIII quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (1 November, 1301), Charles of Valois entered Florence with the Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. Dante was in Siena when he heard that his goods and property had been seized, was condemned to exile for two years (separated from his wife and children), then condemned to perpetual exile; if he had returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could have been burned at the stake. He never saw Florence again. He went to Verona as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala, then moved to Sarzana in Liguria. Later he is supposed to have lived in Lucca.
In 1310, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg marched into Italy at the head of 5,000 troops. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also retake Florence from the Black Guelphs. He wrote to Henry and several Italian princes, demanding that they destroy the Black Guelphs. In 1312 Henry assaulted Florence and defeated the Black Guelphs. Henry VII died from a fever in 1313 and with him any hope for Dante to see Florence again. He returned to Verona. He was sent on many diplomatic missions, and knew the old Etruscan paths well.
Dante's final days were spent in Ravenna from 1318 and died there on 14 September 1321, aged about 56, of quartan malaria contracted while returning from a diplomatic mission to the Republic of Venice. He was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called Basilica di San Francesco).
Florence eventually came to regret having exiled Dante, and built a tomb for him in 1829, in the Basilica of Santa Croce, but it has always been empty. A copy of Dante's so-called death mask has been displayed since 1911 in the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno) written in the castle at Poppi, Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso); he is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice (Dante said he first met his muse Beatrice Portinari at age nine at Eglise Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, and claimed to have fallen in love with her "at first sight", apparently without even talking with her. Her father had a palace at Portinari. Dante's interactions with Beatrice set an example of so-called courtly love. Beatrice died in 1290. Of the books, Purgatorio is arguably the most lyrical of the three, referring to more contemporary poets and artists than Inferno; Paradiso is the most heavily theological, and the one in which, many scholars have argued, the Divine Comedy's most beautiful and mystic passages appear (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa"—"at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142. With its seriousness of purpose, its literary stature and the range of its content, the Comedy soon became a cornerstone in the evolution of Italian as an established literary language. Dante is a forerunner of the Renaissance – an "original genius" who set his own rules, created persons of overpowering stature and depth, and went far beyond any imitation of the patterns of earlier masters.
How can such a serious work be called a "comedy"? In the classical sense the word comedy refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events tend toward not only a happy or amusing ending but one influenced by a God who orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning, the progression of the pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is an expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.
Carnet de voyage en Toscane et en Émilie-Romagne, dans les pas de Dante (lefigaro.fr)
Florence : balade dantesque pour les 700 ans de la mort du poète (lefigaro.fr)
Sur les pas de Dante : tout est accompli (34/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : paradis retrouvé (33/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : vers la contemplation (32/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : serviteur d’amour (31/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : poétique de la lumière (30/34) (la-croix.com)
Dante Alighieri - Wikipedia
Dante Alighieri (Italian c. 1265 – 1321), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His Divine Comedy is widely considered one of the most important poems of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language. His depictions of the kingdoms of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of Western art and literature.
Dante is known for establishing the use of the vernacular in literature at a time when most poetry was written in Latin, which was accessible only to the most educated readers. His use of the Tuscan dialect helped establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. He is described as the "father" of the Italian language, and in Italy he is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"). Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio are also called the tre corone ("three crowns") of Italian literature.
Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, in what is now Italy. His supposed “house” on via Santa Margherita wasn’t built till 1910! He claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans. His father was a White Guelph (a political alliance that supported the Papacy) who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. When he was 12, Dante was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati. The exact date of his marriage is not known, but before his exile in 1301, he had fathered three children with Gemma (Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia). Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino (June, 1289). Not much is known about Dante's education; he probably studied in a chapter school attached to the Franciscans of Santa Croce and the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella church in Florence. It is known that he studied law, rhetoric, philosophy, Tuscan poetry, the Provençal poetry of the troubadours, and the Latin writers of classical antiquity, including Cicero, Ovid and especially Virgil. To further his political career, he became a pharmacist (apothecary).
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (Dante's party), and the Black Guelphs. Dante was sent in a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Pope Boniface VIII quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (1 November, 1301), Charles of Valois entered Florence with the Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. Dante was in Siena when he heard that his goods and property had been seized, was condemned to exile for two years (separated from his wife and children), then condemned to perpetual exile; if he had returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could have been burned at the stake. He never saw Florence again. He went to Verona as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala, then moved to Sarzana in Liguria. Later he is supposed to have lived in Lucca.
In 1310, Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg marched into Italy at the head of 5,000 troops. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also retake Florence from the Black Guelphs. He wrote to Henry and several Italian princes, demanding that they destroy the Black Guelphs. In 1312 Henry assaulted Florence and defeated the Black Guelphs. Henry VII died from a fever in 1313 and with him any hope for Dante to see Florence again. He returned to Verona. He was sent on many diplomatic missions, and knew the old Etruscan paths well.
Dante's final days were spent in Ravenna from 1318 and died there on 14 September 1321, aged about 56, of quartan malaria contracted while returning from a diplomatic mission to the Republic of Venice. He was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called Basilica di San Francesco).
Florence eventually came to regret having exiled Dante, and built a tomb for him in 1829, in the Basilica of Santa Croce, but it has always been empty. A copy of Dante's so-called death mask has been displayed since 1911 in the Palazzo Vecchio.
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno) written in the castle at Poppi, Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso); he is first guided by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice (Dante said he first met his muse Beatrice Portinari at age nine at Eglise Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, and claimed to have fallen in love with her "at first sight", apparently without even talking with her. Her father had a palace at Portinari. Dante's interactions with Beatrice set an example of so-called courtly love. Beatrice died in 1290. Of the books, Purgatorio is arguably the most lyrical of the three, referring to more contemporary poets and artists than Inferno; Paradiso is the most heavily theological, and the one in which, many scholars have argued, the Divine Comedy's most beautiful and mystic passages appear (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa"—"at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142. With its seriousness of purpose, its literary stature and the range of its content, the Comedy soon became a cornerstone in the evolution of Italian as an established literary language. Dante is a forerunner of the Renaissance – an "original genius" who set his own rules, created persons of overpowering stature and depth, and went far beyond any imitation of the patterns of earlier masters.
How can such a serious work be called a "comedy"? In the classical sense the word comedy refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events tend toward not only a happy or amusing ending but one influenced by a God who orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning, the progression of the pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is an expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.
Carnet de voyage en Toscane et en Émilie-Romagne, dans les pas de Dante (lefigaro.fr)
Florence : balade dantesque pour les 700 ans de la mort du poète (lefigaro.fr)
Sur les pas de Dante : tout est accompli (34/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : paradis retrouvé (33/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : vers la contemplation (32/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : serviteur d’amour (31/34) (la-croix.com)
Sur les pas de Dante : poétique de la lumière (30/34) (la-croix.com)
Dante Alighieri - Wikipedia