During my visit to Florence, a city full of legends, museums both indoors and outdoors, the cradle of Western art and the Renaissance, the story of one of its most illustrious sons, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), captured my attention.
I knew little or nothing about Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri, known as Dante, author of The Divine Comedythat epic in verses considered one of the most important works of Italian and world literature.
The revelations about the we are poetas Dante is considered in Italy, began for me at the foot of a statue of him, at the entrance to the Basilica of Santa Croce.
The sculpture, financed by several Italian cities, bears the signature of the sculptor Enrico Pazzi. It was erected in 1865, in the center of Piazza Santa Croce, to celebrate the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Florentine writer. It was then moved to its current location.
The entrance to the basilica, guarded by the poet, has been the scene of the commissioning on more than one occasion. All Dante, of the famous actor Roberto Benigni, who, on a platform set up for the show, recites thirteen songs from The Divine Comedy, for thirteen nights.
The work depicts Dante standing, with a grave expression, crown of laurels, hooked nose and prominent chin, similar to the features of the famous oil portrait of Andrea del Castagno, a Tuscan Renaissance painter. A Roman eagle and four lions as symbols of popularity accompany it. In addition, shields with names of some of his books and details of various regions of the country stand out.
The statue is welcoming those who arrive at the Franciscan church, the largest of its kind in the world. The imposing neo-Gothic and Renaissance-style building houses 300 tombs, including those of prominent figures such as Michelangelo, Galileo Galilei, Machiavelli…
The remains of the father of the Italian language, however, are not found there, but in Ravenna. Santa Croce houses a funerary monument that is not really a tomb but a cenotaph, the name of the pantheon where the remains of the person to whom it is dedicated are not found.
Curiosity about an “empty tomb” is what sparked my interest in the character’s story.
Dante was born in Florence in 1265. Although the legend has been woven that he belonged to a poor family of low nobility, in reality the Alighieri enjoyed prestige and a well-to-do economic situation. Dante himself was not forced to work in his youth and, throughout his short life, was able to develop his passion for poetry and literature into a prolific writer known for his lyrical style, his use of language, and his deep knowledge of the human soul.
He lost his mother when he was little and was forced by his father to marry at the age of 12, as was the custom of the time in a marriage for economic convenience, with the teenager Gemma Donati. With his wife he had four children. However, he had a platonic love for Beatriz Portinari, whom he met in his childhood.
As is known, The Divine Comedy It is his most famous and transcendent work. It chronicles Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, and his search for redemption and salvation, with a unique vision of the world and Christian theology.
In addition, he was a political activist. He participated in the public life of Florence at a time of intense sociopolitical struggles. For espousing ideals such as the separation of religion and politics and his loyalty to a faction that had been overthrown, Dante was banished in 1302. He spent the last years of his life in exile, wandering various Italian cities, including Verona, Bologna, and Ravenna. , where he finally died in 1321.
Despite this, he maintained a deep emotional connection with Florence, and his desire to return to his hometown was reflected in his texts. In song XXVI of Hell, one can read: “Rejoice, Fiorenza, then if you are so great, you will beat your wings by sea and by land, and your name will spread through hell!”.
Why don’t his remains rest in Florence today?
After his death, Dante was buried in Ravenna, in the Church of San Francesco, where a monument was erected in his honor. Two hundred years later, the Florentines claimed the remains of the poet and the Florence-born Pope Leo X intervened. The Franciscan friars ignored the request and sent an empty sarcophagus.
In the Basilica of Santa Croce the imposing funerary monument was built with the legend: “Onorate l’altissimo poeta” (Honour the high poet).
The tomb was designed and sculpted by the Italian Stefano Ricci. It is located in a chapel dedicated to Dante in the right nave of the church. It has several sculptures that represent passages from his life and his work. At the top of the tomb appears Dante in marble, dressed in a toga and with a book in hand. At his feet, an allegorical figure to literature, represented as a woman in an attitude of mourning. On the other side, another female figure represents Dante’s meeting with Beatriz, a scene from the Comedy.
In 1865, the year of another centenary of Dante, a box was discovered in the old Franciscan building in Ravenna containing the poet’s bones. These were deposited in a small temple built in the 14th century, next to the church, where they still rest.
Seven centuries after his death, the authorities of Ravenna and Florence are still in conversations on the subject. Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of people from all over the world travel a route every year gruesome in the footsteps of Italy’s greatest poet.
In my Cuban school, in the Spanish-literature classes there was a brief talk about The Divine Comedy. I do not remember that they have told us in depth about its author, about his curious, exciting and intense life, worthy of a film or perhaps a series. Who knows if I would have paid more attention to those classes and felt encouraged to immerse myself in the poet’s journey.
