
Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante (May 14/June 13 1265 – September 13/14, 1321), is one of the greatest poets in the Italian language; with the comic story-teller, Boccaccio, and the poet, Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors. Dante Alighieri was born in the city-state Florence in 1265. He first saw the woman, or rather the child, who was to become the poetic love of his life when he was almost nine years old and she was some months younger. In fact, Beatrice married another man, Simone di' Bardi, and died when Dante was 25, so their relationship existed almost entirely in Dante's imagination, but she nonetheless plays an extremely important role in his poetry. Dante attributed all the heavenly virtues to her soul and imagined, in his masterpiece The Divine Comedy, that she was his guardian angel who alternately berated and encouraged him on his search for salvation. Politics as well as love deeply influenced Dante's literary and emotional life. Renaissance Florence was a thriving, but not a peaceful city: different opposing factions continually struggled for dominance there. The Guelfs and the Ghibellines were the two major factions, and in fact that division was important in all of Italy and other countries as well. The Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor were political rivals for much of this time period, and in general the Guelfs were in favor of the Pope, while the Ghibellines supported Imperial power. By 1289 in the battle of Campaldino the Ghibellines largely disappeared from Florence. Peace, however, did not insue. Instead, the Guelf party divided between the Whites and the Blacks (Dante was a White Guelf). The Whites were more opposed to Papal power than the Blacks, and tended to favor the emperor, so in fact the preoccupations of the White Guelfs were much like those of the defeated Ghibellines. In this divisive atmosphere Dante rose to a position of leadership. in 1302, while he was in Rome on a diplomatic mission to the Pope, the Blacks in Florence seized power with the help of the French (and pro-Pope) Charles of Valois. The Blacks exiled Dante, confiscating his goods and condemning him to be burned if he should return to Florence. Dante never returned to Florence. He wandered from city to city, depending on noble patrons there. Between 1302 and 1304 some attempts were made by the exiled Whites to retrieve their position in Florence, but none of these succeeded and Dante contented himself with hoping for the appearance of a new powerful Holy Roman Emperor who would unite the country and banish strife. Henry VII was elected Emperor in 1308, and indeed laid seige to Florence in 1312, but was defeated, and he died a year later, destroying Dante's hopes. Dante passed from court to court, writing passionate political and moral epistles and finishing his Divine Comedy, which contains the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. He finally died in Ravenna in 1321.

1870

2018

illustrata
2012

The Essential Commedia
2025
1963
![100 Books You Must Read Before You Die [volume 1] book cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1606253011i/56035017.jpg)
2020
2012

1292

1472

2022

1320
IL Io dell'Inferno e IL Xxxiiio Canto del Paradiso (Classic Reprint)
2018

The Divine Comedy
2022

1320

2022

1911

2009
Studies And Estimates
2009

2007

el Manga
2011

testi, strumenti, percorsi
1999

Fegefeuer: Original-Materialien zu "Inferno" von Dan Brown
2013

Los mejores relatos, ensayos y poemas de la literatura maligna universal
2021

2015

2007

2004

2022

1319

2026

2001

1986

1320

Purgatory
1985

Inferno
2024
2013

2010

2024

1315

2024

2026

2014

2025

2012

2025
Canzoniere Dante's Confession Of Faith. Eclogues...
2012

1316

A Graphic Novel Adaptation
2023

A New Translation in Modern Accessible English
2024

2016

2021

1305

2021

1320

2021

2006

1
2024

1320

Purgatorio
2025
2017
1965

2020

2011

1981

2012

1313

2008

Hell (Penguin Classics) by Dante Alighieri
2026

Les Miserables, The Auto-Biography of Benjamin Franklin, The French Revolution, The Divine Comedy
1955

1321

1910

1307

1912

1321
2010
1977

2008

Illustrated by Gustave Doré
2025

1947

1986

Including the Poems of the Vita Nuova and Convito
1999

1929

L'Enfer - Le Purgatoire - Le Paradis
2021

2025

2021

1947

2021

Paradiso, Part 2: Commentary
1991

2016

Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso — Dante Alighieri’s Timeless Journey Through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven
2025

2017
2008

1971

The Five Foot Shelf & The Shelf of Fiction
1722
![La Divinia commèdia, corredata dei segni della pronunzia e di nuòvi spediènti utili all'evidènza, ai raffronti, alle ricerche, alla memorazione, dal prof. Luigi Polacco. 1905 [Leather Bound] book cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1698798381i/156280704.jpg)
2018

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2025

1921
Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso - The Temple Classics Series
2026
La Divine Comédie; La Vie Nouvelle (Classic Reprint)
2011

2024

Inferno, Vol. 2 -Commentary: Inferno v. 1 by Dante
1716