Dante Alighieri ranks amongst the greatest writers in the Western canon. This Italian poet changed the course of Western literature. He affected the way we think of Heaven and the Underworld. Dante wrote in the vernacular (not in Latin, the language of the educated elite). Furthermore, Dante didn't write in "standard Italian"; he wrote in the dialect of his hometown, Florence.
Alas, Dante found himself on the losing side of an ugly Florentine political struggle and he was banished, on pain of death, from his beloved home city. It was in Ravenna, an 80 mile walk from Florence, that Dante wrote his greatest work, the Divine Comedy. It was in Ravenna that Dante died and was buried (and where he remains to this day). Naturally, as Dante's important legacy grew, Florence sought to re-patriot his remains to his hometown. Florence built him an impressive tomb (in 1829, which one may see today) in the Basilica di Santa Croce, to no avail. Ravenna was not giving-up his body. Popes tried. Michelangelo appealed. Armies were sent. Ravenna contended, "You didn't want him in life, why should you get him in death?"
Dante's remains have rested in a handful of places in Ravenna since his death in 1321. For many years, he laid hidden in a monastery wall, where he had been hidden by Franciscan priests from the Florentine body snatchers (and subsequently forgotten). In 1865, while doing construction on that wall, Dante's bones were re-discovered and buried in a handsome Neoclassical tomb. Except for a period during the bombardments of World War II, his bones have laid here and his tomb can be visited today (which I found a very touching experience).
While we're on the subject of visiting Ravenna, the greatest attraction in the city is the collection of incredible Early Christian mosaics on the ceilings and walls of several Ravenna churches and tombs. In the otherwise modest city, visitors find themselves astounded by the brilliant treasures to be found within simple, brown buildings. I find it incredible that these wonderful works of art were already 800 years old at the time Dante stood beneath them!
The handsomely-sculpted bookends, shown above, show a bronze-clad and hand-painted bust of Dante. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome reminder of a most important mind.
More handsome Back-to-School ideas tomorrow and in the days to come.
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