{"id":8715,"date":"2024-03-21T16:32:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/?p=8715"},"modified":"2026-04-10T20:22:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:22:29","slug":"dantedi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/","title":{"rendered":"Danted\u00ec: celebrating the father of the Italian language"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #636363;color:#636363\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #636363;color:#636363\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Dantedi_celebrating_the_father_of_the_Italian_language\" >Danted\u00ec: celebrating the father of the Italian language<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Dante_Alighieri\" >Dante Alighieri<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Early_life\" >Early life<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Political_Life\" >Political Life<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#The_Divine_Comedy\" >The Divine Comedy<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Dantes_afterlife_Inferno_Purgatorio_and_Paradiso\" >Dante&#8217;s afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Hell\" >Hell<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Purgatory\" >Purgatory<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Paradise\" >Paradise<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/en\/dantedi\/#Would_you_like_to_read_Dantes_Divine_Comedy\" >Would you like to read Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dantedi_celebrating_the_father_of_the_Italian_language\"><\/span>Danted\u00ec: celebrating the father of the Italian language<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>March 25th is Danted\u00ec, Dante Day! Dante Alighieri is a must-read for anybody interested in the Italian language and culture.&nbsp;This date was chosen since it is the beginning of Dante&#8217;s journey, according to historians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But why are the Italian author Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy so important? Let\u2019s find out together!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dante_Alighieri\"><\/span>Dante Alighieri<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dante<\/strong>, in full&nbsp;<strong>Dante Alighieri<\/strong>, (born c. May 21\u2013June 20, 1265, Florence [Italy]\u2014died September 13\/14, 1321, Ravenna), Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist,&nbsp;moral&nbsp;philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental&nbsp;epic poem&nbsp;<em>La commedia<\/em>, later named&nbsp;<em>La Divina Commedia<\/em>&nbsp;(<em>The Divine Comedy<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Divine Comedy<\/em>, a landmark in&nbsp;Italian literature&nbsp;and among the greatest works of all&nbsp;medieval&nbsp;European literature, is a profound Christian vision of humankind\u2019s temporal and eternal destiny. On its most personal level, it draws on Dante\u2019s own experience of exile from his native city of&nbsp;Florence. On its most&nbsp;comprehensive&nbsp;level, it may be read as an&nbsp;allegory, taking the form of a journey through&nbsp;hell,&nbsp;purgatory, and paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The poem amazes for its array of learning, its penetrating and comprehensive analysis of contemporary problems, and its inventiveness of language and imagery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By choosing to write his poem in the Italian&nbsp;vernacular rather than in Latin, Dante decisively influenced the course of literary development (he primarily used the Tuscan dialect, which would become standard literary Italian, but his vivid vocabulary ranged widely over many&nbsp;dialects and languages).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not only did he lend a voice to the emerging lay&nbsp;culture&nbsp;of his own country, but Italian became the literary language in western Europe for several centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-2.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21297\" style=\"width:724px;height:403px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-2.jpeg.jpg 800w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-2.jpeg-480x267.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 800px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Early_life\"><\/span>Early life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of what is known about Dante\u2019s life came from Dante himself. He was born in Florence in 1265 under the sign of Gemini (between May 21 and June 20) and remained devoted to his native city all his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante\u2019s life was shaped by the long history of conflict between the&nbsp;imperial&nbsp;and papal partisans called, respectively,&nbsp;Ghibellines and Guelfs. Following the middle of the 13th century the antagonisms were brutal and deadly, with each side alternately gaining the upper hand and inflicting gruesome penalties and exile upon the other. Dante describes how he fought as a cavalryman against the&nbsp;Ghibellines, that supported the imperial cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1260 the Guelfs, after a period of ascendancy, were defeated in the Battle of Montaperti (<em>Inferno<\/em>&nbsp;X, XXXII), but in 1266 a force of Guelfs, supported by papal and French armies, was able to defeat the Ghibellines at Benevento, expelling them forever from Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This meant that Dante grew up in a city brimming with postwar pride and expansionism, eager to extend its political control throughout&nbsp;Tuscany. Florentines compared themselves with Rome and the civilization of the ancient city-states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Political_Life\"><\/span>Political Life<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante Alighieri was the son of a moderately wealthy landowner. His mother died when he was just seven years old and his father when he was a teenager. As a young knight, Dante actively participated in the 1289&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/disambiguation\/battle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Battle<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;of Campaldino between the rival&nbsp;cities&nbsp;of Florence and Arezzo and their respective allies. The two sides in this battle were divided over their support for either the Pope (the Guelphs) or the Holy&nbsp;Roman Emperor&nbsp;(the Ghibellines), a rivalry that would cause a chasm in Florentine politics that lasted over half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in Florence, Dante worked as a municipal official and was involved in politics between c. 1295 and 1302. Contrary to the government of Florence, Dante wanted to see his city free from papal interference, which he saw as a morally corrupt institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was further disillusioned with&nbsp;Rome&nbsp;following the Pope&#8217;s enforced exile to Avignon in 1309. Dante began to support, instead, the ambitions of the Holy Roman Emperor, although his political allegiance shifted depending on circumstances. Dante nurtured hopes that the&nbsp;Holy Roman Empire&nbsp;would restore Christian order to Europe. In this he was hopelessly wrong, but he did at least correctly predict that the bickering between the different Italian city-states would only lead to the downfall of all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Divine_Comedy\"><\/span>The Divine Comedy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Written between 1304 and 1319 but not printed widely until 1472, the name \u2018comedy\u2019 derives from the label used for a genre where works have a positive ending (or in this case not a negative one, at least). \u2018Divine\u2019 was added to the title in the mid-16th century because of the high esteem the work continued to command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante is himself the central character of his work as he embarks on a \u00abjourney through a civic Hell, a rural, mountainous Purgatory, and a mystical astral Paradise\u00bb. The story is set in 1300 at&nbsp;Easter&nbsp;time, and Dante describes the characters he meets along the way on his pilgrimage, usually real historical people, and their deeds when alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Dantes_afterlife_Inferno_Purgatorio_and_Paradiso\"><\/span>Dante&#8217;s afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Each part is comprised of&nbsp;<b>33&nbsp;<em>canti<\/em>&nbsp;or episodes<\/b>, and there is one introductory&nbsp;<em>canto<\/em>, bringing the total to a perfect 100. Each of the&nbsp;<b>14,233 lines<\/b>&nbsp;therein consists of precisely&nbsp;<b>eleven syllables<\/b>&nbsp;and the rhyme follows the following pattern over each group of three lines: aba, bcb, cdc, etc. The structure of the work alone is a remarkable creation of symmetrical poetic&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/disambiguation\/architecture\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">architecture<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<b>number 3&nbsp;<\/b>(and its multiples)&nbsp;<b>is a&nbsp;recurring&nbsp;number&nbsp;in the Commedia&nbsp;<\/b>(3 Cantiche, 33 Cantos, 9 Circles of Hell, 3 Wild Animals, 3 Guides\u2026) and has a&nbsp;deep meaning:&nbsp;<b>it represents the&nbsp;Divine Trinity&nbsp;(Father, Son and Holy Spirit)<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"1397\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Dantes-afterlife-Inferno-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21879\" style=\"width:788px;height:1223px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Dantes-afterlife-Inferno-1.jpg 900w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Dantes-afterlife-Inferno-1-480x745.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 900px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hell\"><\/span>Hell<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante&#8217;s guide through the various levels of Hell is the Roman author Virgil, chosen perhaps because he represents classical reason and because he, too, foresaw the rise of Rome, a blossoming that Dante hoped to see happen in Europe under the Holy Roman Empire. Also finding themselves in the quagmires of&nbsp;<em>Inferno<\/em>&nbsp;are, of course, sinners of all kinds, and, besides popes, more expected villains like Cain, the first murderer, and&nbsp;the assassins&nbsp;of&nbsp;Julius Caesar&nbsp;(c. 100-44 BCE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hell is without a doubt the most impressive of the three realms. It is made up of <b>9 concentric circles<\/b> that represent the severity of sin as it progresses. The nine circles of hell, as well as their sinners and punishments, are listed below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Limbo<\/strong>, a place where the righteous of paganism wait for the Last Judgment without fearing the punishments of hell.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: The<strong>&nbsp;sinners of<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>lust<\/strong>, whipped by terrible hurricanes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: Showered by cold rain,&nbsp;<strong>the sinners of gluttony<\/strong>&nbsp;drag themselves through excrement.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: The&nbsp;<strong>miserly<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>profligate<\/strong>&nbsp;roll howling loads of stones.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: The fifth circle of hell is formed by the&nbsp;<strong>Stygian Swamp<\/strong>, in whose fetid waters the&nbsp;<strong>wrathful<\/strong>&nbsp;tear each other apart.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle:&nbsp;<strong>Heretics<\/strong>&nbsp;lie in fiery graves.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: Various kinds of&nbsp;<strong>violent<\/strong>&nbsp;people.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: Different kind of&nbsp;<strong>deceivers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Circle: Various kinds of&nbsp;<strong>traitors<\/strong>. The three greatest traitors and sinners,&nbsp;<strong>Judas<\/strong>,&nbsp;<strong>Brutus<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Cassius<\/strong>, will each be eternally&nbsp;<strong>mangled<\/strong>&nbsp;in one of the&nbsp;<strong>three mouths&nbsp;<\/strong>of<strong>&nbsp;Lucifer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Purgatory\"><\/span>Purgatory<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante moves on to Purgatory, the Christian waiting room of the afterlife, where those not evil enough to be detained in Hell nurture hope of one day reaching Heaven. Here, Dante the character begins his process of spiritual rehabilitation while Dante the writer continues to show a breathtaking conceit in placing his villains and his heroes where he thinks they belong according to their deeds in this life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a ruthless attack on Dante&#8217;s political rivals and the poor political and moral health of Italy at the time of&nbsp;writing. However, in the end, it does not really matter if Dante&#8217;s assessments are accurate, the point of this section is really for the reader to more clearly identify the consequences in eternity of one&#8217;s actions in this life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People (or souls of people) who have sinned are housed in both hell and purgatory. What is the distinction between these two worlds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who have tried to justify their sins and are not repentant will spend eternity in Hell. They are condemned for all eternity and have no chance of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People who have sinned but asked for forgiveness before death are found in Purgatory, where they struggle to be free of their sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People who have sinned but asked for forgiveness before death are found in Purgatory, where they struggle to be free of their sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"464\" height=\"434\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/paradise-dante-alighieri.jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21312\" style=\"width:690px;height:690px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Paradise\"><\/span>Paradise<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>After an initial ascension, <b>Beatrice guides Dante through the nine&nbsp;celestial spheres&nbsp;of&nbsp;Heaven<\/b>. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the structures of the <i>Inferno<\/i>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<i>Purgatorio<\/i>&nbsp;were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the&nbsp;<i>Paradiso<\/i>&nbsp;is based on the&nbsp;four cardinal virtues&nbsp;and the&nbsp;three theological virtues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seven lowest spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues&nbsp; of&nbsp; Prudence, Fortitude, Justice and Temperance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first three spheres involve a deficiency of one of the cardinal virtues:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Moon, containing the inconstant, whose vows to God waned as the moon and thus lack fortitude;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mercury, containing the ambitious, who were virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice;<br>&#8211; Venus, containing the lovers, whose love was directed towards another than God and thus lacked Temperance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The final four are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the Sun, containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mars&nbsp;contains the men of fortitude who died in the cause of Christianity;&nbsp;Jupiter&nbsp;contains the kings of Justice; and&nbsp;Saturn&nbsp;contains the temperate, the monks who abided by the contemplative lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The seven, all subdivided into three parts, are raised further by two more categories: the eighth sphere of the fixed stars that contain those who achieved the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and represent the Church Triumphant&nbsp;\u2013 the total perfection of humanity, cleansed of all the sins and carrying all the virtues of heaven; and the ninth circle, or&nbsp;Primum Mobile&nbsp;(corresponding to the Geocentricism of Medieval astronomy), which contains the angels, creatures never poisoned by original sin. Topping them all is the&nbsp;Empyrean, which contains the essence of God, completing the 9-fold division to 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including&nbsp;Thomas Aquinas,&nbsp;Bonaventure,&nbsp;Saint Peter, and&nbsp;St. John. The&nbsp;<i>Paradiso<\/i>&nbsp;is consequently more theological in nature than the&nbsp;<i>Inferno<\/i>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<i>Purgatorio<\/i>. However, Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is merely the one his human eyes permit him to see, and thus the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante&#8217;s personal vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<i>Divine Comedy<\/i>&nbsp;finishes with Dante seeing the&nbsp;Triune God. In a flash of understanding that he cannot express, Dante finally understands the mystery of&nbsp;<a title=\"Christ\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christ<\/a>&#8216;s divinity and humanity, and his soul becomes aligned with God&#8217;s love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/la-divina-commedia-1024x1024.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21328\" style=\"width:668px;height:668px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/la-divina-commedia-1024x1024.jpg.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/la-divina-commedia-1024x1024.jpg-980x980.jpg 980w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/la-divina-commedia-1024x1024.jpg-480x480.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Would_you_like_to_read_Dantes_Divine_Comedy\"><\/span>Would you like to read Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/The_Divine_Comedy-DANTE-IN-LINEA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><br><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dante Alighieri, known as the \u00abFather of the Italian Language,\u00bb has been designated as a national holiday in Italy, to be observed on March 25 each year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"<h2>Danted\u00ec: celebrating the father of the Italian language<\/h2>\nMarch 25th is Danted\u00ec, Dante Day! Dante Alighieri is a must-read for anybody interested in the Italian language and culture.\u00a0This date was chosen since it is the beginning of Dante's journey, according to historians.\n\nBut why are the Italian author Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy so important? Let\u2019s find out together!\n<h2>Dante Alighieri<\/h2>\n<strong>Dante<\/strong>, in full\u00a0<strong>Dante Alighieri<\/strong>, (born c. May 21\u2013June 20, 1265, Florence [Italy]\u2014died September 13\/14, 1321, Ravenna), Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist,\u00a0moral\u00a0philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental\u00a0epic poem\u00a0<em>La commedia<\/em>, later named\u00a0<em>La Divina Commedia<\/em>\u00a0(<em>The Divine Comedy<\/em>).\n\nDante\u2019s\u00a0<em>Divine Comedy<\/em>, a landmark in\u00a0Italian literature\u00a0and among the greatest works of all\u00a0medieval\u00a0European literature, is a profound Christian vision of humankind\u2019s temporal and eternal destiny. On its most personal level, it draws on Dante\u2019s own experience of exile from his native city of\u00a0Florence. On its most\u00a0comprehensive\u00a0level, it may be read as an\u00a0allegory, taking the form of a journey through\u00a0hell,\u00a0purgatory, and paradise.\n\nThe poem amazes for its array of learning, its penetrating and comprehensive analysis of contemporary problems, and its inventiveness of language and imagery.\n\nBy choosing to write his poem in the Italian\u00a0vernacular rather than in Latin, Dante decisively influenced the course of literary development (he primarily used the Tuscan dialect, which would become standard literary Italian, but his vivid vocabulary ranged widely over many\u00a0dialects and languages).\n\nNot only did he lend a voice to the emerging lay\u00a0culture\u00a0of his own country, but Italian became the literary language in western Europe for several centuries.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-1.jpeg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-1.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-1-300x167.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/21-09-21-dante-800x445-1-768x427.jpeg 768w\" alt=\"dante aligheri\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" \/>\n<h2>Early life<\/h2>\nMost of what is known about Dante\u2019s life came from Dante himself. He was born in Florence in 1265 under the sign of Gemini (between May 21 and June 20) and remained devoted to his native city all his life.\n\nDante\u2019s life was shaped by the long history of conflict between the\u00a0imperial\u00a0and papal partisans called, respectively,\u00a0Ghibellines and Guelfs. Following the middle of the 13th century the antagonisms were brutal and deadly, with each side alternately gaining the upper hand and inflicting gruesome penalties and exile upon the other. Dante describes how he fought as a cavalryman against the\u00a0Ghibellines, that supported the imperial cause.\n\nIn 1260 the Guelfs, after a period of ascendancy, were defeated in the Battle of Montaperti (<em>Inferno<\/em>\u00a0X, XXXII), but in 1266 a force of Guelfs, supported by papal and French armies, was able to defeat the Ghibellines at Benevento, expelling them forever from Florence.\n\nThis meant that Dante grew up in a city brimming with postwar pride and expansionism, eager to extend its political control throughout\u00a0Tuscany. Florentines compared themselves with Rome and the civilization of the ancient city-states.\n<h2>Political Life<\/h2>\nDante Alighieri was the son of a moderately wealthy landowner. His mother died when he was just seven years old and his father when he was a teenager. As a young knight, Dante actively participated in the 1289\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/disambiguation\/battle\/\">Battle<\/a>\u00a0of Campaldino between the rival\u00a0cities\u00a0of Florence and Arezzo and their respective allies. The two sides in this battle were divided over their support for either the Pope (the Guelphs) or the Holy\u00a0Roman Emperor\u00a0(the Ghibellines), a rivalry that would cause a chasm in Florentine politics that lasted over half a century.\n\nBack in Florence, Dante worked as a municipal official and was involved in politics between c. 1295 and 1302. Contrary to the government of Florence, Dante wanted to see his city free from papal interference, which he saw as a morally corrupt institution.\n\nHe was further disillusioned with\u00a0Rome\u00a0following the Pope's enforced exile to Avignon in 1309. Dante began to support, instead, the ambitions of the Holy Roman Emperor, although his political allegiance shifted depending on circumstances. Dante nurtured hopes that the\u00a0Holy Roman Empire\u00a0would restore Christian order to Europe. In this he was hopelessly wrong, but he did at least correctly predict that the bickering between the different Italian city-states would only lead to the downfall of all.\n<h2>The Divine Comedy<\/h2>\nWritten between 1304 and 1319 but not printed widely until 1472, the name \u2018comedy\u2019 derives from the label used for a genre where works have a positive ending (or in this case not a negative one, at least). \u2018Divine\u2019 was added to the title in the mid-16th century because of the high esteem the work continued to command.\n\nDante is himself the central character of his work as he embarks on a \"journey through a civic Hell, a rural, mountainous Purgatory, and a mystical astral Paradise\". The story is set in 1300 at\u00a0Easter\u00a0time, and Dante describes the characters he meets along the way on his pilgrimage, usually real historical people, and their deeds when alive.\n<h3>Dante's afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso<\/h3>\nEach part is comprised of\u00a0<b>33\u00a0<em>canti<\/em>\u00a0or episodes<\/b>, and there is one introductory\u00a0<em>canto<\/em>, bringing the total to a perfect 100. Each of the\u00a0<b>14,233 lines<\/b>\u00a0therein consists of precisely\u00a0<b>eleven syllables<\/b>\u00a0and the rhyme follows the following pattern over each group of three lines: aba, bcb, cdc, etc. The structure of the work alone is a remarkable creation of symmetrical poetic\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldhistory.org\/disambiguation\/architecture\/\">architecture<\/a>.\n\nThe\u00a0<b>number 3\u00a0<\/b>(and its multiples)\u00a0<b>is a\u00a0recurring\u00a0number\u00a0in the Commedia\u00a0<\/b>(3 Cantiche, 33 Cantos, 9 Circles of Hell, 3 Wild Animals, 3 Guides\u2026) and has a\u00a0deep meaning:\u00a0<b>it represents the\u00a0Divine Trinity\u00a0(Father, Son and Holy Spirit)<\/b>\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ-768x1192.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ-768x1192.jpg 768w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ-660x1024.jpg 660w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ-800x1242.jpg 800w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/1_NaftQgchIvpRXOSEag0DAQ.jpg 900w\" alt=\"Dante's afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso\" width=\"768\" height=\"1192\" \/>\n<h3>Hell<\/h3>\nDante's guide through the various levels of Hell is the Roman author Virgil, chosen perhaps because he represents classical reason and because he, too, foresaw the rise of Rome, a blossoming that Dante hoped to see happen in Europe under the Holy Roman Empire. Also finding themselves in the quagmires of\u00a0<em>Inferno<\/em>\u00a0are, of course, sinners of all kinds, and, besides popes, more expected villains like Cain, the first murderer, and\u00a0the assassins\u00a0of\u00a0Julius Caesar\u00a0(c. 100-44 BCE).\n\nHell is without a doubt the most impressive of the three realms. It is made up of <b>9 concentric circles<\/b> that represent the severity of sin as it progresses. The nine circles of hell, as well as their sinners and punishments, are listed below:\n<ol>\n \t<li><strong>Limbo<\/strong>, a place where the righteous of paganism wait for the Last Judgment without fearing the punishments of hell.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: The<strong>\u00a0sinners of<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>lust<\/strong>, whipped by terrible hurricanes.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: Showered by cold rain,\u00a0<strong>the sinners of gluttony<\/strong>\u00a0drag themselves through excrement.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: The\u00a0<strong>miserly<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>profligate<\/strong>\u00a0roll howling loads of stones.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: The fifth circle of hell is formed by the\u00a0<strong>Stygian Swamp<\/strong>, in whose fetid waters the\u00a0<strong>wrathful<\/strong>\u00a0tear each other apart.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle:\u00a0<strong>Heretics<\/strong>\u00a0lie in fiery graves.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: Various kinds of\u00a0<strong>violent<\/strong>\u00a0people.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: Different kind of\u00a0<strong>deceivers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n \t<li>Circle: Various kinds of\u00a0<strong>traitors<\/strong>. The three greatest traitors and sinners,\u00a0<strong>Judas<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Brutus<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Cassius<\/strong>, will each be eternally\u00a0<strong>mangled<\/strong>\u00a0in one of the\u00a0<strong>three mouths\u00a0<\/strong>of<strong>\u00a0Lucifer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Purgatory<\/h3>\nDante moves on to Purgatory, the Christian waiting room of the afterlife, where those not evil enough to be detained in Hell nurture hope of one day reaching Heaven. Here, Dante the character begins his process of spiritual rehabilitation while Dante the writer continues to show a breathtaking conceit in placing his villains and his heroes where he thinks they belong according to their deeds in this life.\n\nIt is a ruthless attack on Dante's political rivals and the poor political and moral health of Italy at the time of\u00a0writing. However, in the end, it does not really matter if Dante's assessments are accurate, the point of this section is really for the reader to more clearly identify the consequences in eternity of one's actions in this life.\n\nPeople (or souls of people) who have sinned are housed in both hell and purgatory. What is the distinction between these two worlds?\n\nThose who have tried to justify their sins and are not repentant will spend eternity in Hell. They are condemned for all eternity and have no chance of salvation.\n\nPeople who have sinned but asked for forgiveness before death are found in Purgatory, where they struggle to be free of their sins.\n\nPeople who have sinned but asked for forgiveness before death are found in Purgatory, where they struggle to be free of their sins.\n\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/flandrin_dante_virgile-768x477.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/flandrin_dante_virgile-768x477.jpg 768w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/flandrin_dante_virgile-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/flandrin_dante_virgile-800x497.jpg 800w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/flandrin_dante_virgile.jpg 900w\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"477\" \/>\n<h3>Paradise<\/h3>\nAfter an initial ascension, <b>Beatrice guides Dante through the nine\u00a0celestial spheres\u00a0of\u00a0Heaven<\/b>. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology.\n\nWhile the structures of the <i>Inferno<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>Purgatorio<\/i>\u00a0were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the\u00a0<i>Paradiso<\/i>\u00a0is based on the\u00a0four cardinal virtues\u00a0and the\u00a0three theological virtues.\n\nThe seven lowest spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues\u00a0 of\u00a0 Prudence, Fortitude, Justice and Temperance.\n\nThe first three spheres involve a deficiency of one of the cardinal virtues:\n<ul>\n \t<li>The Moon, containing the inconstant, whose vows to God waned as the moon and thus lack fortitude;<\/li>\n \t<li>Mercury, containing the ambitious, who were virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice;\n- Venus, containing the lovers, whose love was directed towards another than God and thus lacked Temperance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThe final four are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the Sun, containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues.\n\nMars\u00a0contains the men of fortitude who died in the cause of Christianity;\u00a0Jupiter\u00a0contains the kings of Justice; and\u00a0Saturn\u00a0contains the temperate, the monks who abided by the contemplative lifestyle.\n\nThe seven, all subdivided into three parts, are raised further by two more categories: the eighth sphere of the fixed stars that contain those who achieved the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and represent the Church Triumphant\u00a0\u2013 the total perfection of humanity, cleansed of all the sins and carrying all the virtues of heaven; and the ninth circle, or\u00a0Primum Mobile\u00a0(corresponding to the Geocentricism of Medieval astronomy), which contains the angels, creatures never poisoned by original sin. Topping them all is the\u00a0Empyrean, which contains the essence of God, completing the 9-fold division to 10.\n\nDante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including\u00a0Thomas Aquinas,\u00a0Bonaventure,\u00a0Saint Peter, and\u00a0St. John. The\u00a0<i>Paradiso<\/i>\u00a0is consequently more theological in nature than the\u00a0<i>Inferno<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0<i>Purgatorio<\/i>. However, Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is merely the one his human eyes permit him to see, and thus the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's personal vision.\n\nThe\u00a0<i>Divine Comedy<\/i>\u00a0finishes with Dante seeing the\u00a0Triune God. In a flash of understanding that he cannot express, Dante finally understands the mystery of\u00a0<a title=\"Christ\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christ\">Christ<\/a>'s divinity and humanity, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love.\n\n<img src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/paradise-dante-alighieri.jpeg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/paradise-dante-alighieri.jpeg 464w, https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/paradise-dante-alighieri-300x281.jpeg 300w\" alt=\"\" width=\"464\" height=\"434\" \/>\n<h3>Would you like to read Dante\u2019s Divine Comedy?<\/h3>\n<a role=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/The_Divine_Comedy-DANTE-IN-LINEA.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\nDOWNLOAD IT HERE\n<\/a>\n\n<!--more--><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8776 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/aug162023\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/la-divina-commedia-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" \/>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8715"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22517,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8715\/revisions\/22517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danteinlinea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}