Dante Alighieri‘s Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of allegory, sharing with us the growth of the main character (Dante himself) as he traverses hell, purgatory and heaven. It has inspired many through the centuries (many centuries) since it was written. Including The Masquerade at Excelsior Mill in Atlanta with its three epic levels of hell, purgatory and heaven. But I digress.

Once an exile, always an exile

Dante was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy so he has been known for a LONG time. Due to politics (apparently, a nasty business not just in modern times), he had to flee his native town. Back then, Florence was a powerful republic, not just a city as we know it today.

He fled and took refuge in Verona, of Romeo and Juliet fame, where he is honored in a square – postcard #1.

His Divine Comedy is a poem and I understand it is a brilliantly designed one in its original language: Italian. That -and a recent two-week trip- motivated me to learn Italian. I was able to actually hold conversations in Italian thanks to that effort. Though I am sure I butchered it a lot. In any case, he is the Shakespeare, the Cervantes of Italy and he pre-dates them. He is from the Middle Ages!

Death threat and actual death in Ravenna

Anyway, he was exiled on perpetuity and the pain of returning was being burned at the stake so one can understand why he did not return.

Sadly, he died at 56 of malaria in the Adriatic coastal city of Ravenna. Ravenna became an important city as Rome descended into chaos. It became capital of the Western Roman Empire in the early 5th century.

And that leads me to postcard #2 – his tomb in Ravenna. This tomb is from the 18th century. No, he did not live that long. Over the centuries, Florence regretted casting out this most famous of its sons and tried to get his remains back and even built a tomb. But, it remains empty as Ravenna has kept him all this time, even hiding his remains for some period of time to ensure they were not taken away. I think Ravenna should keep him…

How to read the Divine Comedy

I hope this unusual post in my blog was entertaining if nothing else. And, if you have never read the Divine Comedy, I recommend you do it. But with some guide to explain it along as there are a lot of hidden meanings, parallels across stories in the book, etc. It is well worth discovering this gem of Middle Age (or any age) literature – and if you can do it in Italian, even better!