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但丁但丁出生在意大利的佛罗伦萨一个没落的贵族家庭，生于1265年，出生日期不清，按他自己在诗中的说法“生在双子座下”，应该是5月下旬或6月上旬。5岁时生母去世，父亲续弦，后母为他生了两个弟弟、一个妹妹。
生平
但丁的生平记录很少，但写作的人很多，有许多并不可靠，他可能并没有受过正式教育（也有人说他在波隆那及巴黎等地念书），从许多有名的朋友兼教师那里学习不少东西，包括拉丁语、普罗旺斯语和音乐，年轻时可能做过骑士，参加过几次战争，33岁时就已经结婚，他妻子为他生了6个孩子，只有4个（3男1女）存活。 但他真正爱的,是一个8岁的小女孩,姓名是贝蕾雅妮彩.
佛罗伦斯但丁博物馆门外的但丁雕像..当时佛罗伦萨政界分为两派，一派是效忠神圣罗马帝国皇帝的齐伯林派，另一派是效忠教皇的盖尔非派，1266年后，由于教皇势力强盛，盖尔非派取得胜利，将齐伯林派放逐。盖尔非派掌权后1294年当选的教皇卜尼法斯八世想控制佛罗伦萨，一部分富裕市民希望城市的独立，不愿意受制于教皇，分化成“白党”，另一部分没落户，希望借助教皇的势力翻身，成为“黑党”。两派重新争斗，但丁的家族原来属于盖尔非派，但丁热烈主张独立自由，因此成为白党的中坚，并被选为最高权利机关执行委员会的六位委员之一。
1301年教皇特派法国国王的兄弟瓦鲁瓦的卡罗(Carlo di Valois)去佛罗伦萨“调节和平”，白党怀疑此行另有目的，派出以但丁为团长的代表团去说服教皇收回成命，但没有结果，果然卡罗到佛罗伦萨后立即组织黑党屠杀反对派，控制佛罗伦萨，并宣布放逐但丁，一但他回城，任何佛罗伦萨士兵都可以处决烧死他，从此但丁再也没有能回到家乡。
1308年卢森堡的亨利七世当选为神圣罗马帝国皇帝，预备入侵佛罗伦萨，但丁给他写信，指点需要进攻的地点，因此白党也开始痛恨但丁。1313年亨利去世，但丁的希望落空。
1315年，佛罗伦萨被军人掌权，宣布如果但丁肯付罚金，并于头上撒灰，颈下挂刀，游街一周就可免罪返国。但丁回信说：“这种方法不是我返国的路！要是损害了我但丁的名誉，那么我决不再踏上佛罗伦萨的土地！难道我在别处就不能享受日月星辰的光明吗？难道我不向佛罗伦萨市民卑躬屈膝，我就不能接触宝贵的真理吗？可以确定的是，我不愁没有面包吃！”
但丁在被放逐时，曾在几个意大利城市居住，有的记载他曾去过巴黎，他以著作排遣其乡愁，并将一生中的恩人仇人都写入他的名作《神曲》中，对教皇揶揄嘲笑，他将自己一生单相思的恋人，一个叫贝亚德的，25岁就去世的美女，安排到天堂的最高境界。
但丁于1321年客死他乡，在意大利东北部腊万纳去世。
但丁的作品基本上是以意大利托斯卡纳方言写作的，对形成现代意大利语言以托斯卡纳方言为基础起了相当大的作用，因为除了拉丁语作品外，古代意大利作品只有但丁是最早使用活的语言写作，他的作品对意大利文学语言的形成起了相当大作用，所以也是对文艺复兴运动起了先行者的作用。
主要作品
意大利出品的欧元上的但丁像但丁的著名作品有：
爱情诗歌《新生》
哲学诗歌《宴会》
抒情诗《诗句集》
长诗《神曲》
拉丁文文章《俗语论》
政论文《王国论》
拉丁文诗歌《牧歌》
但丁的被收集的《书信集》
《神曲》介绍
《神曲》代表了中世纪文学和最高成就，这样一部划时代的巨著得以产生，是与当时意大利的社会状况、诗人所具有的深厚学识和独特的个人经历分不开的。
但丁生活的时代，已不同于是世纪前期欧洲社会发展相对缓慢、工商业极不发达、基督教完全垄断意识形态的状况。13世纪时，意大利北部的热那亚、威尼斯、佛罗伦萨、米兰等地，由于海上贸易和工商业的蓬勃发展，成为欧洲最富庶的地区。
早期资产阶级日益强大，并建立了城邦共和国，取得了自治权。尽管与整个欧洲甚至与意大利其他大部分地区比较而言，这只是资产阶级取得的小小的胜利，但它却对社会现实和欧洲的历史进程产生了深刻的影响。但丁在政治倾向上，就是与意大利的资产阶级相一致的。
当时的意大利，并不是今天意义上的统一国家，而只是一个四分五裂的地域名称，经济的发展也极不平衡。政治上主宰意大利的， 主要有两大势力， 一为神圣罗马帝国皇帝，一为罗马教皇。所谓的“神圣罗马帝车”，是中世纪中期遗留下来的一个历史名称。
962年，又红又专当时的教皇约翰十二世为德国国王奥托一世（936—973在位）加冕， 封其为“神圣罗马帝国皇帝，”领有意大利。 因此， 历任帝国皇帝，均为日耳曼血统。由于德国本身内乱不息，其国王只是势力或强或弱的封建主，统治中心一直在德国，对意大利的控制也时紧时松。罗马教皇则一直把意大利视作自己的势力范围，与帝国皇帝矛盾重重。意大利人民希望国家统一，而教皇与皇帝的斗争及他们各自的野心则是统一的障碍。他们采取分而治之的政策，唯恐统一的意大利对其统治构成危胁。错综复杂的矛盾，使意大利的政治生活异常活跃，政敌之产的对产，不同阶级间的利益冲突， 常以极为残酷的形式表现出来。 但丁就是政治迫害的见证人之一。
从文化领域看，基督教的严密控制，到12世纪时已显出办不从心。在其神学探讨过程中，常需借助柏拉图、亚里士多德等古希腊哲学有的观念与逻辑论证方法，证明和论述神的存在及属性，阐述尘世与彼岸的关系。
12世纪后，更是出现了越来越多的古希腊罗马时期著作的汇编。教会的本意是为自己的神学理论寻找方法论和依据，但研究者们却从中发现了与基督教理论完全不同的另一重文化境界。意大利出现了西欧最早的一批古典学者，但丁就是其中最博学者之一。
但丁生于佛罗伦萨一个城市贵族之家，其父因家道中落，长期经商。当时该城有代表封建贵族利益、支持罗马教皇的基白林党和支持神圣罗马帝国皇帝、代表资产阶级利益的贵尔夫党。但丁的父亲自然拥戴贵尔夫党，而但丁本人后来则成为该党的领袖之一。
但丁早年曾师从著名学者布鲁内托·拉蒂尼，系统学习拉丁文、修辞学、诗学和古典文学，对罗马大诗人维吉尔推崇备至。在绘画、音乐领域，但丁也造诣不凡。此外，但丁精心研究神学和哲学，古代教父圣·奥古斯丁的思想对他影响尤深。
但丁有过一次刻骨铭心的爱情，在其文学创作中留下了不可磨灭的烙印。那是在他的少年时代，他随父参加友人聚会，遇上一位名叫贝阿特丽齐的未满8岁的少女。少女的端庄、贞淑与优雅的气质令但丁对她一见钟情，再不能忘。遗憾的是贝阿特丽齐后来遵从父命嫁予他人，婚后数年竟因病夭亡。 哀伤不已的但丁将自己几年来陆续写给贝阿特丽齐的三十一首抒情诗以散文相连缀， 取名《新生》（1292—1293）结集出版。诗中抒发了诗人对少女深挚的感情，纯真的爱恋和绵绵无尽的思念，风格清新自然，细腻委婉。
这部诗集是当时意大利文坛上“温柔的新体”诗派的重要作品之一，也是西欧文学史上第一部剖露心迹，公开隐秘情感的自传性诗作。
早在青年时期，但丁就以激昂的政治热情了贵尔夫党，投身反对封建贵族的斗争，并参加了粉碎基白林党的战斗。贵尔夫党在佛罗伦萨掌权后，但丁被选为该城行政官。该党后又分裂为黑白两党，但丁属于白党，反对罗马教皇对佛罗伦萨的干涉。教皇伙同法国军队支持黑党于1302年击败白党，掌握了政权，开始清洗白党成员。但丁被没收全部家产，判处终身流放，自此再未回到故乡，直至客死于拉文那。
曾有学者将但丁与我国的屈原相比，谓屈原被逐乃赋《离骚》，但丁流放才有《神曲》。如果从两位诗人在颠沛流离过程中的精神境界不断升发，忧国忧民痴心不改的角度看，这种比附是有道理的。二十年的流放使但丁对意大利社会的现实有了更深切的了解，逐渐将自己的命运融合于对民族前途的深沉思考之中。
流放初年，但丁曾写了《飨宴》（1304—1307）和《论俗语》两书，前者希望以道德和知识消除各城邦之间与城邦内部各派之间的倾轧、攻伐；后者则批驳只重拉丁语、轻视意大利语的倾向。这不仅表明但丁超越了狭隘的党派偏见，以理性意识思考民族现实与未来的胸襟，而且显示出他对民族语言文化的重视，这结意大利文学的发展意义深远。
但丁有诗人的柔肠与激情，也有学者的锐利与智慧，他是当时最杰出的语言学家之一，又是在时代激流中冲浪的政治家，这是博大精深的《神曲》问世的基础。
《神曲》（1307—1321）是但丁于流放期间历时十四年完成的长篇诗作，原名为“喜剧”。中世纪时，人们对“喜剧”的解释与今人不同，其意为结局令人喜悦的故事。1555年后，人们在原书名前加上修饰语“神圣的”，既表示对诗人的崇敬，亦暗指此诗主题之庄严深奥，意境之巍峨崇高。在我国，则将书名译为“神曲”。
《神曲》全诗长一万四千二百三十三行，分为3部，每部33篇，诗句三行一段，连锁押韵（aba,bcb,cdc,……），象征圣父圣子圣灵三位一体。前加1篇序诗，共100篇，表示“完全中的完全”。由《地狱》、《炼狱》和《天堂》三部分构成，各篇长短大致相等，每部也基本相等（地狱4720行；炼狱4755行；天堂4758行），每部都以“群星”（stelle）一词结束。它是但丁幻游三界的神奇描述。诗人自叙在大赦圣年的1300年春天，正当自己35岁的人生中途。是年 4月 8日， 诗人迷失于一座黑暗的森林之中， 正当他努力向山峰攀登时，唯一的出口又被象征淫欲、强暴和贪婪的母豹、雄狮和母狼拦住去路。诗人惊慌不已，进退维谷。值此危急关头，罗马大诗人维吉尔突然出现， 他受已成为天使的但丁精神上的恋人贝阿特丽齐之托， 救但丁脱离险境，并游历地狱和炼狱。在维吉尔的带领下，但丁首先进入地狱，但见阴风怒号，恶浪翻涌，其情可怖，其景惊心。地狱分九层，状如漏斗，越往下越小。 居住于此的， 都是生前犯有重罪之人。他们的灵魂依罪孽之轻重，被安排在不同层面中受永罚。这里有贪官污吏、伪君子、邪恶的教皇、买卖圣职者、盗贼、淫媒、诬告犯、高利贷者，也有贪色、贪吃、易怒的邪教徒。诗人最痛恨卖国贼和背主之人，把他们放在第九层，冻在冰湖里，受酷刑折磨。
从冰湖之底穿过地球中心，就来到了炼狱。炼狱是大海中的一座孤山，也分九层。这里是有罪的灵魂洗涤罪孽之地，待罪恶炼净后，仍有望进入天堂。悔悟晚了的罪人不得入内，只能在山门外长期苦等。炼狱各层中分别住着儿以骄、妒、怒、惰、贪、食、色等基督教“七罪”中罪过较轻者的灵魂。但丁一层层游历，最后来到顶层的地上乐园，维吉尔随即离去。原来他尚夫资格进入天堂，只能在“候判所”等待。此时天空彩霞万道，祥云缭绕。在缤纷的花雨中，头戴橄榄叶桂冠、身着狸红长裙，披着洁白轻纱的贝阿特丽齐缓缓降临。贝阿特丽齐一边温柔地责备诗人不该迷误于象征罪恶的森林，一边指引他饱览各处胜境。在她指点下，但丁进入“忘川”，顿觉身心一爽，忘却了往昔的痛苦，随后贝阿特丽齐带他进入天堂。
天堂共有九重天，即月球天、水星天、金星天、太阳天、火星天、木星天、土星天、恒星天和水晶天，天使们就住在这里，能入天堂者都是生前的义人，英明的君主、学界的圣徒和虔诚的教士，才能在此享受永恒的幸福。天堂气象宏伟庄严，流光溢彩，充满仁爱和欢乐。在第八重天，但丁接受了三位圣人关于“信、望、爱”神学三美德的询问，顿感神魂超拔，跟随圣人培纳多进入神秘明丽的苍穹，欲一窥“三位一体”的深刻意义，但见金光一闪，幻想和全诗在极乐的气氛中戛然而止。
今天的读者看《神曲》，常觉其内容庞杂、情节离奇，意义晦暗不明，这是因为不熟悉此书的中世纪文化背景所致。实际上，《神曲》结构严谨，情节服从于全诗的主题，其中的人物、场景均有所指。这里我们仅从大的方面来谈谈有关问题。但丁对当时的罗马教皇卜尼法西八世和已故的一些罪恶滔天的教皇切齿痛恨，对宗教蒙昧主认也持鲜明的否定态度，但他并没有否定基督教信仰。写于1309年的《帝制论》第三卷最后一章，是理解《神曲》的一把钥匙。但丁认为，人生有两种幸福：“今生的幸福在于个人行善；永生的幸福在于蒙受神恩”。“此生的幸福以人间天国为象征，永生的幸福以天上王国为象征。 此生幸福须在哲学 （包括一切人类知识）的指导下，通过道德与知识的实践而达到。永生的幸福则须在启示的指导下，通过神学之德（信德、望德、爱德）的实践而达到”。这其实是奥古斯丁在《上帝之城》中提出的“人间天国”与“天上王国”的翻版。在《神曲》中，但丁精心安排了两个人物作为自己的导师，一为象征理性、知识的维吉尔，一为象征信仰、虔敬的贝阿特丽齐。我们在前面曾讲过，基督教认为人人都是罪人，因此，地狱、炼狱中所囚之人，都是有罪的灵魂，区别只在罪的性质不同，罪的轻重不一，他们都是现实社会中各色人等的体现。 天堂中的人是经过炼狱活尽罪恶后的灵魂， 可以与神同享荣耀。但丁在进入炼狱之前，天使用利刃在其额头刻下七个象征罪恶的 “P”字（意大利语中“罪过”一词的首字母），诗人在炼狱中每登上一层，既有一位天使将 “P”字抹去一个，及至走出炼狱山，七个 “P”字全被抹去，表明罪恶已清，可上天堂上。地狱、炼狱和天堂分别对位应着“人间天国”和“天上王国”。象征理性的维吉尔只能“人间天国”里充当诗人的引路者，象征信仰的贝阿特丽齐才有资格带领诗人进入“天上王国”。这清楚地说明，但丁是将信仰置于理性之上的。《神曲》的主题，意在探索诗人自身、意大利民族，乃至人类的未来命运，但丁的结论是，意大利民族和整个人类必须在信仰的启示下，以理性规范行为，实行道德完善和精神境界的不断超越，才能与最高真理合一，获得光明的前途。但丁笔下天堂的九重天结构，则是以被教会接受的托勒密天体论为依据的，诗中所谓的“永久的轮盘”，正是托勒密关于宇宙是由同一轴心上的九重天构成的球面体理论的写照。
作为新旧交替时期的诗人，但丁不可能不接受中世纪文化的洗礼，但《神曲》中表现出的深刻批判精神和新思想的萌芽，则使诗人成为文艺复兴新时期既将到来的预言者。但丁结古希腊、罗马的先贤如柏拉图、亚里士多德、荷马、维吉尔等人由衷地赞佩，肯定这些异教时期灿烂文化的代表者，肯定知识和理性精神，客观上就批判了中世纪的文化专制主义和蒙昧主义，尽管作为一个基督徒，但丁不可能将他们直接安排进天堂，但却把这些"高贵的"异教徒放进地狱中一个毫不受苦的美丽幽静之处。但丁还同情为爱情而遭惨杀在地狱中受苦的保罗和弗兰采斯加，批判了教会的禁欲主义。长诗多处流露出期待结束党派纷争， 实现民族统一的强烈愿望， 对祖国的挚爱，常使诗人情不自禁。在《地狱》第六歌中，四分五裂的意大利引发了但丁无限的痛惜之情：
唉，奴隶般的意大利， 你哀痛之逆旅， 你这暴风雨中没有舵手的孤舟，你不再是各省的主妇，而是妓院！……你的活疾的人民住在你里面，没有一天不发生战争，为一座城墙和一条城壕围住的人却自相残杀。你这可怜虫啊！你向四下里看看你国土的滨岸，然后再望你的腹地，有没有一块享受和平幸福的土地。
对民族家园现实的哀叹，随即转变为对祸国殃民者的愤怒。但丁揭露一些教皇干预世俗政治和对权利的贪欲，是民族不和城邦纷争的罪魁祸首。在地狱中遇到尼古拉三世教皇的灵魂，诗人痛斥：“因为你的贪婪使世界陷入悲惨，把好人蹂躏，把恶人提升”。卜尼法斯八世教皇当时尚在人间，诗人却在狱中为他找好了位置，倒栽于石穴中受火刑的惩罚。但丁还抨击腐败的教会势力， 借使徒彼得之品将贪财败德的主教们比喻为 “穿着牧人衣服的贪狼”。诗人鄙视那些丧失原则，在激烈的政治斗争中见风使舵的政客，为此在地狱第一层外为他们的灵魂专设一个长廊。这些人连地狱都不肯收容，在长廊里被无数大黄峰蛰刺，被狂风吹得飘来荡去。实际上，尽管《神曲》采用了梦幻的形式，它的具体描绘--特别是在《地狱》篇中--都是当时意大利社会现实的缩影。
《神曲》在艺术上取得了极高的成就，是中世纪文学哺育出的瑰宝。诗人借助基督教救赎观念和地狱、炼狱、天堂三界的神学教义结构全诗，将纷繁复杂的素材纳入严谨的构架之中。长诗自然地分为三部，每部三十三篇，加序诗一篇，共100篇。每3行分节，各部诗行也大致相符等，不仅工整、匀称，结构本身也富有象征含义。诗中的许多人物虽然是但丁笔下的鬼魂，但由于均有现实依据，因此写得血肉丰满，性格鲜明，令读者难以忘怀。诗人继承了先知文学和启示文学的传统，将澎湃的激情与匪夷所思的幻想相结合，将对现实的评判与对“天国”诚挚的信仰相结合，展示出诗人惊人的想象力，把以梦幻、寓意、象征为特点的中世纪文学艺术推向了高峰。
另外但丁也是大家都熟悉的“《鬼泣》系列”历代主人公。他继承传说中的恶魔猎人斯巴达的血脉。曾经为了人类，打败了魔界的帝王，把整个魔界封印起来。在佛尔德纳（フォルトゥナ）的但丁屠杀魔剑教团的人，和尼禄是敌对关系。
关于“旧桥”（ponte vecchio）和但丁的爱情
贯穿全城的阿尔诺河上，横跨着很多座造型优美的古桥，每座古桥都记录着一个昔日的传说。最为知名的是位于三圣桥下边的“旧桥”（ponte vecchio），那是阿尔诺河上的唯一的廊桥，像一条“空中走廊”，把乌菲齐美术馆和比蒂宫连成一体。这座饱经沧桑的老桥建于古罗马时期，1177和1333年曾两次受到洪水侵袭，只剩下两个大理石桥墩。现在这座造型典雅的三拱廊桥是1345年在原有的桥墩上重建而成，桥面过道两侧坐落着三层错落有致的楼房，桥面的中段两侧留有约20米宽的空间作为观景台，这一别开生面的设计使得整个大桥显得奔放而和谐。1944年夏天，在第二次世界大战中，阿尔诺河上的十座古桥中的其它九座都被纳粹军队炸毁了，唯独“旧桥”安然无恙。
不过，这座古桥之所以出名并不全在于它古老而传奇的历史，更重要的原因是这里曾经演绎过另一个版本的“廊桥遗梦”，而它的主人公正是被世人所仰慕的伟大诗人但丁。
那是一个春光明媚的上午，阳光洒在阿尔诺河上，波光闪闪，把河上的廊桥（那时的老桥还是古罗马时期的模样，桥面和桥廊都是木料所搭）和桥畔的行人映衬得更加光彩夺目。一位高贵而美丽的8岁少女在侍女的陪伴下向老桥走来。此时，但丁正从廊桥的另一头迎着8岁少女走上廊桥，两人在桥上不期而遇。但丁凝视着8岁少女，既惊喜又怅然；而8岁少女却手持鲜花，双目直视前方，径直从但丁身边走过，仿佛没有看见但丁。但她的眼里放射出的异样的光芒和脸上泛起的潮红却透露出少女情动的信息。
这是著名画家亨利·豪里达在他的油画《但丁与贝特丽丝邂逅》中所描绘的但丁与贝特丽丝相遇并一见钟情的情景。画中手持鲜花的少女就是诗人但丁的梦中情人贝特丽丝。
其实，这幅油画所描绘的仅仅是但丁初恋的开始。贝特丽丝最终并没有嫁给但丁，在但丁第二次见到她时，她已被迫嫁给了一位伯爵，不久就夭亡了。贝特丽丝带走了但丁的梦想，也把美丽和哀伤留给了但丁。但丁是个对爱情矢志不渝的人，他一直爱恋着她，永志一生。这样的哀伤和思念，成就了他早年诗作《新生》。
但丁在《新生》中抒发了自己对贝特丽丝的一片纯真的爱恋之心后，继而将他的恋人描绘成追求天国真理的化身，她的灵魂飞向天空，得到了新生。即便到了晚年，但丁对贝特丽丝的那份执着依然难以释怀，他在《神曲》中，又把贝特丽丝描绘成集真善美于一身、引导他进入天堂的女神，以此来寄托他对贝特丽丝的美好情感。爱情催生了《新生》，《新生》又为他晚年创作《神曲》作了情感和素材的准备。而这一切都源于“廊桥”的一次邂逅。正是在“廊桥”的这一次相遇造就了但丁“中世纪最后一位诗人，同时也是新时代最初一位伟大的诗人”之地位，同时也造就了旷世诗作《神曲》。
顺便说一下但丁也是大家都熟悉的“《鬼泣》系列”历代主人公。他继承传说中的恶魔猎人斯巴达的血脉。曾经为了人类，打败了魔界的帝王，把整个魔界封印起来。在佛尔德纳（フォルトゥナ）的但丁屠杀魔剑教团的人，和尼禄是敌对关系。
The exact date of Dante's birth is unknown, although it is generally believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from self biographic allusions in La Vita Nuova, "the Inferno" (Halfway through the journey we are living, implying that Dante was around 35 years old, as the average lifespan according to the Bible (Psalms, 89, 10) is 70 years, and as the imaginary travel took place in the 1300 Dante must have been born around 1265). Some verses of "the Paradise" also provide information about the day he was born, stating that he was born under the Gemini sign, ie. the period between the 21st of May and the 21st of June ("As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious", Paradise XXII 151-154)
Mural of Dante in the Uffizi Gallery, by Andrea del Castagno, c. 1450.Dante pretended that his family descended from the ancient Romans (Inferno, XV, 76), but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei (Paradiso, XV, 135), of no earlier than about 1100. Dante's father, Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph (see politics section) who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the mid 13th century. This suggests that Alighiero or his family enjoyed some protective prestige and status.
Dante's family was prominent in Florence, with loyalties to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor. The poet's mother was Bella degli Abati. She died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, as widowers had social limitations in these matters. This woman definitely bore two children, Dante's brother Francesco and sister Tana (Gaetana). When Dante was 12, in 1277, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Messer Manetto Donati. Contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. Dante had already fallen in love with another girl, Beatrice Portinari (known also as Bice). Years after his marriage to Gemma he met Beatrice again. He had become interested in writing verse, and although he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems.
Dante fought in the front rank of the Guelph cavalry at the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). This victory brought forth a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in public life, one had to be enrolled in one of “the arts”. So Dante entered the guild of physicians and apothecaries. In following years, his name is frequently found recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic.
Dante had several children with Gemma. As often happens with significant figures, many people subsequently claimed to be Dante's offspring; however, it is likely that Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, Gabrielle Alighieri, and Antonia were truly his children. Antonia became a nun with the name of Sister Beatrice.
Education and poetry
Not much is known about Dante's education, and it is presumed he studied at home. It is known that he studied Tuscan poetry, at a time when the Sicilian School (Scuola poetica siciliana), a cultural group from Sicily, was becoming known in Tuscany. His interests brought him to discover the Occitan poetry of the troubadours and the Latin poetry of classical antiquity (with a particular devotion to Virgil).
During the "Secoli Bui" (Dark Ages), Italy had become a mosaic of small states, Sicily being the largest one, at the time under the Angevine dominations, and as far (culturally and politically) from Tuscany as Occitania was: the regions did not share a language, culture, or easy communications. Nevertheless, we can assume that Dante was a keen up-to-date intellectual with international interests.
Statue of Dante at the Uffizi, Florence.When he was nine years old he met Beatrice Portinari, daughter of Folco Portinari, with whom he fell in love "at first sight", and apparently without even having spoken to her. He saw her frequently after age 18, often exchanging greetings in the street, but he never knew her well; he effectively set the example for the so-called "courtly love". It is hard now to understand what this love actually comprised, but something extremely important for Italian culture was happening. It was in the name of this love that Dante gave his imprint to the Stil Novo and would lead poets and writers to discover the themes of Love (Amore), which had never been so emphasized before. Love for Beatrice (as in a different manner Petrarch would show for his Laura) would apparently be the reason for poetry and for living, together with political passions. In many of his poems, she is depicted as semi-divine, watching over him constantly. When Beatrice died in 1290, Dante tried to find a refuge in Latin literature. The Convivio reveals that he had read Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae and Cicero's De amicitia. He then dedicated himself to philosophical studies at religious schools like the Dominican one in Santa Maria Novella. He took part in the disputes that the two principal mendicant orders (Franciscan and Dominican) publicly or indirectly held in Florence, the former explaining the doctrine of the mystics and of Saint Bonaventure, the latter presenting Saint Thomas Aquinas' theories. This "excessive" passion for philosophy would later be criticized by the character Beatrice, in Purgatorio, the second book of the Comedy.
At 18, Dante met Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and soon after Brunetto Latini; together they became the leaders of Dolce Stil Novo ("The Sweet New Style"). Brunetto later received a special mention in the Divine Comedy (Inferno, XV, 28), for what he had taught Dante. Nor speaking less on that account, I go With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are His most known and most eminent companions. Some fifty poetical components by Dante are known (the so-called Rime, rhymes), others being included in the later Vita Nuova and Convivio. Other studies are reported, or deduced from Vita Nuova or the Comedy, regarding painting and music.
Florence and politics
Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. He fought in the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289), with the Florentine Guelphs against Arezzo Ghibellines, then in 1294 he was among the escorts of Charles Martel d'Anjou (son of Charles of Anjou) while he was in Florence.
To further his political career, he became a pharmacist. He did not intend to actually practice as one, but a law issued in 1295 required that nobles who wanted public office had to be enrolled in one of the Corporazioni delle Arti e dei Mestieri, so Dante obtained admission to the apothecaries' guild. This profession was not entirely inapt, since at that time books were sold from apothecaries' shops. As a politician, he accomplished little, but he held various offices over a number of years in a city undergoing political unrest.
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (Guelfi Bianchi) — Dante's party, led by Vieri dei Cerchi — and the Black Guelphs (Guelfi Neri), led by Corso Donati. Although initially the split was along family lines, ideological differences rose based on opposing views of the papal role in Florentine affairs, with the Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome. Initially the Whites were in power and expelled the Blacks.
In response, Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of Florence. In 1301, Charles de Valois, brother of Philip the Fair king of France, was expected to visit Florence because the Pope had appointed him peacemaker for Tuscany. But the city's government had treated the Pope's ambassadors badly a few weeks before, seeking independence from papal influence. It was believed that Charles de Valois would eventually have received other unofficial instructions. So the council sent a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Dante was one of the delegates.
Exile and death
A recreated death mask of Dante Alighieri (in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence).Boniface quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (November 01, 1301), Charles de Valois entered Florence with Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. A new Black Guelph government was installed and Messer Cante dei Gabrielli di Gubbio was appointed Podestà of Florence. Dante was condemned to exile for two years, and ordered to pay a large fine. The poet was still in Rome, where the Pope had "suggested" he stay, and was therefore considered an absconder. He did not pay the fine, in part because he believed he was not guilty, and in part because all his assets in Florence had been seized by the Black Guelphs. He was condemned to perpetual exile, and if he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could be burned at the stake. (The city council of Florence finally passed a motion rescinding Dante's sentence in June 2008.)
The poet took part in several attempts by the White Guelphs to regain power, but these failed due to treachery. Dante, bitter at the treatment he received from his enemies, also grew disgusted with the infighting and ineffectiveness of his erstwhile allies, and vowed to become a party of one. At this point, he began sketching the foundation for the Divine Comedy, a work in 100 cantos, divided into three books of thirty-three cantos each, with a single introductory canto.
Statue of Dante in the Piazza di Santa Croce in Florence.He went to Verona as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala, then moved to Sarzana in Liguria. Later, he is supposed to have lived in Lucca with Madame Gentucca, who made his stay comfortable (and was later gratefully mentioned in Purgatorio, XXIV, 37). Some speculative sources say that he was also in Paris between 1308 and 1310. Other sources, even less trustworthy, take him to Oxford.
In 1310, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg, marched 5,000 troops into Italy. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also re-take Florence from the Black Guelphs. He wrote to Henry and several Italian princes, demanding that they destroy the Black Guelphs. Mixing religion and private concerns, he invoked the worst anger of God against his city, suggesting several particular targets that coincided with his personal enemies. It was during this time that he wrote the first two books of the Divine Comedy.
In Florence, Baldo d'Aguglione pardoned most of the White Guelphs in exile and allowed them to return; however, Dante had gone too far in his violent letters to Arrigo (Henry VII), and he was not recalled.
The memorial tomb for Dante Alighieri at Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence.In 1312, Henry assaulted Florence and defeated the Black Guelphs, but there is no evidence that Dante was involved. Some say he refused to participate in the assault on his city by a foreigner; others suggest that he had become unpopular with the White Guelphs too and that any trace of his passage had carefully been removed. In 1313, Henry VII died, and with him any hope for Dante to see Florence again. He returned to Verona, where Cangrande I della Scala allowed him to live in a certain security and, presumably, in a fair amount of prosperity. Cangrande was admitted to Dante's Paradise (Paradiso, XVII, 76).
Dante's tomb in Ravenna, built in 1780.In 1315, Florence was forced by Uguccione della Faggiuola (the military officer controlling the town) to grant an amnesty to people in exile, including Dante. But Florence required that as well as paying a sum of money, these exiles would do public penance. Dante refused, preferring to remain in exile. When Uguccione defeated Florence, Dante's death sentence was commuted to house arrest, on condition that he go to Florence to swear that he would never enter the town again. Dante refused to go. His death sentence was confirmed and extended to his sons. Dante still hoped late in life that he might be invited back to Florence on honourable terms. For Dante, exile was nearly a form of death, stripping him of much of his identity. He addresses the pain of exile in Paradiso, XVII (55-60), where Cacciaguida, his great-great-grandfather, warns him what to expect:
... Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta "... You shall leave everything you love most:
più caramente; e questo è quello strale this is the arrow that the bow of exile
che l'arco de lo essilio pria saetta. shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste
Tu proverai sì come sa di sale of others' bread, how salty it is, and know
lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle how hard a path it is for one who goes
lo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale... ascending and descending others' stairs..."
As for the hope of returning to Florence, he describes it wistfully, as if he had already accepted its impossibility, (Paradiso, XXV, 1–9):
Se mai continga che 'l poema sacro If it ever come to pass that the sacred poem
al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terra, to which both heaven and earth have set their hand
sì che m'ha fatto per molti anni macro, so as to have made me lean for many years
vinca la crudeltà che fuor mi serra should overcome the cruelty that bars me
del bello ovile ov'io dormi' agnello, from the fair sheepfold where I slept as a lamb,
nimico ai lupi che li danno guerra; an enemy to the wolves that make war on it,
con altra voce omai, con altro vello with another voice now and other fleece
ritornerò poeta, e in sul fonte I shall return a poet and at the font
del mio battesmo prenderò 'l cappello... of my baptism take the laurel crown...
Of course it never happened. Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited him to Ravenna in 1318, and he accepted. He finished the Paradiso, and died in 1321 (at the age of 56) while returning to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission to Venice, perhaps of malaria contracted there. Dante was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called San Francesco). Bernardo Bembo, praetor of Venice in 1483, took care of his remains by building a better tomb.
Cenotaph in Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.On the grave, some verses of Bernardo Canaccio, a friend of Dante, dedicated to Florence:
parvi Florentia mater amoris
"Florence, mother of little love"
Eventually, Florence came to regret Dante's exile, and made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body at Ravenna refused to comply, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Nevertheless, in 1829, a tomb was built for him in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna, far from the land he loved so dearly. The front of his tomb in Florence reads Onorate l'altissimo poeta - which roughly translates as "Honour the most exalted poet". The phrase is a quote from the fourth canto of the Inferno, depicting Virgil's welcome as he returns among the great ancient poets spending eternity in Limbo. The continuation of the line, L'ombra sua torna, ch'era dipartita ("his spirit, which had left us, returns"), is poignantly absent from the empty tomb.
Recently, a recreation of Dante's face was made, showing that his features were much more ordinary than once thought.
Works
Dante, poised between the mountain of purgatory and the city of Florence, displays the famous incipit Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita in a detail of Domenico di Michelino's painting, Florence 1465.See also Category:Works by Dante Alighieri.
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and of another of his works, La Vita Nuova. While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and knowledge to appreciate. Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui mancò possa" - "at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).
Dante wrote the Comedy in a new language he called "Italian", based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, with some elements of Latin and of the other regional dialects. By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression. In French, Italian is nicknamed la langue de Dante. Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break from standards of publishing in only Latin (the languages of liturgy, history, and scholarship in general). This break allowed more literature to be published for a wider audience - setting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future.
Profile portrait of Dante, by Sandro Botticelli (1444–1510).Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy". In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be more trivial in nature. Furthermore, the word "comedy," in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning of the word, the progression of Dante's pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.
Dante's other works include the Convivio ("The Banquet") a collection of his longest poems with an (unfinished) allegorical commentary; Monarchia,, which was condemned and burned after Dante's death by the Papal Legate Bertrando del Poggetto and which serves as a monumental political philosophy treatise describing a monarchial global political organization and its relationship to the Roman Catholic Church; De vulgari eloquentia ("On the Eloquence of Vernacular"), on vernacular literature, partly inspired by the Razos de trobar of Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun; and, La Vita Nuova ("The New Life"), the story of his love for Beatrice Portinari, who also served as the ultimate symbol of salvation in the Comedy. The Vita Nuova contains many of Dante's love poems in Tuscan, which was not unprecedented; the vernacular had been regularly used for lyric works before, during all the thirteenth century. However, Dante's commentary on his own work is also in the vernacular - both in the Vita Nuova and in the Convivio - instead of the Latin that was almost universally used.
Note: References to Divina Commedia are in the format (book, canto, verse), e.g., (Inferno, XV, 76).
Dante by Erminio Blotta, at Blvd. Oroño Rosario, Argentina
In popular culture
Main article: Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture
Dante and the Divine Comedy have been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries. As one of the best-known and greatest artistic works in the Western tradition, its influence on culture is difficult to overestimate.
References
^ Birth date is listed as "probably in the end of May" by Robert Hollander in "Dante" in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 4.
^ Malcolm Moore "Dante's infernal crimes forgiven", Daily Telegraph, 17 June 2008. Retrieved on 18 June 2008.
^ Pullella, Philip. "Dante gets posthumous nose job - 700 years on", Reuters, 12 January 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
^ Banquet. danteonline.it. Retrieved on May 12, 2008.
^ Anthony K. Cassell The Monarchia Controversy. The Monarchia stayed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum from its inception until 1881.
^ Giuseppe Cappelli,La divina commedia di Dante Alighieri, in Italian.
^ Dante Online - Le Opere
Published resources
Gardner, Edmund Garratt (1921). Dante, London, Pub. for the British academy by H. Milford, Oxford University Press. From Internet Archive.
Scott, John A. Dante's Political Purgatory, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
Whiting, Mary Bradford (1922). Dante the Man and the Poet. Cambridge, England. W. Heffer & Sons, ltd. From Internet Archive.