Description

Almost from the time it was written, the Commedia by Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) enjoyed enormous popularity, being praised by Boccaccio as divina and copied in more than 600 manuscripts. The work has continued to be an undying source of artistic inspiration, from the earliest manuscript illustrations up to work by such modern artists as Salvador Dalí and Robert Rauschenberg. The movement towards a revaluation of vernacular Italian literature reawakened interest in Dante between 1440 and 1470 and led to efforts in the poet’s native town of Florence to ...