Dante Alighieri - Ravenna, Italy - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

“I am the way into the city of woe,
I am the way into eternal pain,
I am the way to go among the lost…
Abandon all hope you who enter here.”
- Dante Alighieri (from The Inferno)

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence around the year 1265 into a reasonably affluent family which afforded him the opportunity to get a good classical education. In the latter part of the thirteenth century, it was almost impossible not to get caught up in the political struggle between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines: i.e., those who supported the Papacy and those who supported the Holy Roman Emperor respectively. Dante was no exception, becoming an active supporter of the Guelphs in Florence.

Initially, Dante found himself on the right side of the political spectrum as the Guelphs took power in Florence. But while he was away on a diplomatic mission to Rome, the Guelph party split into the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. Now, Dante found himself on the wrong side of the ruling party and was banned from returning to his home. After a while, Dante was welcomed back to Florence if he paid a fine, but he refused to do so and spent the rest of his life in exile.

Maybe this was all for the better as being away from politics, he was able to concentrate on his true passion of writing, including his magnum opus, The Divine Comedy. So influential was this work on subsequent artists and authors that Dante is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. Writing in vernacular Italian, he helped establish its written form. Dante was to Italian what Shakespeare was to English: as the poet T. S. Eliot once said, “Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them, there is no third.”

Dante’s tomb was designed by Ravenna architect Camillo Morigia and dates from the late eighteenth century. On a couple of occasions, Dante’s remains have been hidden, once during the sixteenth century to prevent their return to Florence and again in the twentieth century during World War II. There have been other attempts to move the poet’s bones back to his hometown, but as of now there is only a cenotaph in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.
(Source: poets.org)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 01/01/1265 Date of death: 09/13/1321 Area of notoriety: Literature Marker Type: Tomb (above ground) Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: none Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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