Who is Beatrice? Beatrice was the main inspiration for Dante Alighieri‘s Vita Nuova and is commonly identified with the Beatrice who appears as one of his guides in his masterpiece La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy). Did Beatrice really exist? The life of this famous woman is shrouded in mystery. Many historians have questioned whether…
Dante Alighieri was an Italian Medieval poet, moral philosopher, political thinker, and author of the poetic trilogy, The Divine Comedy, whose first part lends its name to Dan Brown’s novel Inferno.
He is widely considered the major Italian poet of the Middle Ages and is recognized as the father of the Italian language.
Canto 34 is divided into two equal parts. The first part contains the description of the part of Hell called Judecca and the sight of Lucifer.
The second part is comprised of a description of Dante’s departure from Hell and the story of the angel Lucifer, his rebellion and defeat.
Canto 16 of the Paradiso, mentioned by Dan Brown in his Inferno, is dedicated to Cacciaguida and the Florentines.
Cacciaguida was an ancestor of Dante of which we know very little. We know that he was knighted and participated in the Second Crusade (1147-1149), where he died.
Canto 3 of Dante’s Inferno provides a description of the Underworld. The main points of that canto consist of the description above the Gate of Hell, the Ante-Inferno, which contains a large number of condemned shades, as well as the passage across the River Acheron.
The Torre della Castagna (tower of the chestnut) is located opposite the House of Dante, in the Piazzetta San Martino.
Already built by 1038, the tower was donated to the monks of the adjacent Badia Fiorentina to defend the monastery.
It is said that Dante would frequent the Piazza del Duomo in Florence on summer evenings, perch himself on a ruin, exposed to the cool breeze, and remain there until dark.
The following is a selection of artists whose works of art have been inspired by The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.
According to the image that Dante gave us, Hell and Purgatory are part of the terrestrial sphere, whereas Paradise is out of the Earth.
Dante obviously follows the Christian doctrine that places God in the Heaven.
I found myself within a forest dark, Langdon thought, recalling the ominous first canto of Dante’s masterwork, for the straightforward pathway had been lost.
(Dan Brown, Inferno)
The first news we have about the church of Santa Margherita dei Cerchi in Florence dates back to 1032.
Canto 25 of Dante’s Paradise plays a key role in Dan Brown’s Inferno, as it is very important to solve one of the main mysteries.
Robert Langdon reads its stanzas in the modern rendition by American Professor Allen Mandelbaum.
