Divine Comedy is the living demonstration of how words can be powerful. This presentation is a journey through Italian literature, Dante's Comedy and some adjectives he invented.

1. Lezioni d’italiano con…
Dante
Il cammino nella lingua e letteratura italiana.
Italian lessons with… Dante.
Journey through the Italian language and literature.
Eleonora Miccolis, MA @ Ca’Foscari
University of Venice, Italy.

2. My name is ELEONORA. 26 y.o., Fond of Chinese & English languages,
Italian culture (and food!). MA in Chinese language and literature at Ca’
Foscari University of Venice, Italy.
Founder of LTC project (Language, Technology, Communication) #ltc
Who
am
I
?

3. First lesson:
Adjectives (I)
Dante meets Charon for the
first time
Picture by Matteo Berton

4. Adjectives
Fertile
Fiero
Mesto
Molesto

5. Fertile
#PARADISE #COMEDY #ST.FRANCIS #POVERTY #LANDSCAPE

6. Fertile /'fɛrtile/
Meaning «prolific, fecund».
“La fertile costa” (“Fertile slope”)
In Paradiso 11 Dante meets Thomas Aquinas (Tommaso
D’Aquino) and he starts talking about St. Francis of Assisi,
one of the two Princes “shaped” by Providence in order to
keep the Church safe.
La fertile costa refers to Francis’ place of birth Assisi, which
is on one side of Subasio mount in Umbria.

7. Fiero
#INFERNO #COMEDY #CONTEUGOLINO #CANNIBALINFERNO

8. Fiero /'fjɛro/
Meaning «fierce, savage».
“Il fiero pasto” (the fierce meal)
In Inferno 33 Dante is talking about Count Ugolino (Ugolino
della Gherardesca), a man who is described as a betrayour of
his own town, Pisa, and cannibal. In fact, Dante finds him
eating someone voraciously (the fierce meal) as if he was an
animal.

9. The whole story of Count Ugolino is rather
ambiguous, because we cannot fully understand
whether the Count actually ate his children or he was
only suffering because his children were starving to
death.
If you want to read more about it, check out this link:
HTTPS://WWW.THEPARISREVIEW.ORG/BLOG/2014/06/23/RECAPPIN
G-DANTE-CANTO-33-OR-HISTORYS-VAGUEST-CANNIBAL/

10. Mesto
#SORROWFUL #INFERNO #VIRGIL
#SOULS

11. Mesto,i /'mɛsto,i/
Meaning: «sorrowful, miserable,
suffering».
Color cui tu fai cotanto mesti «Those whom you
describe as sorrowful»
Inferno 1. This is the very first word used by Dante
to describe all the souls he will meet throughout this
journey. This is also the first time he meets Virgil.

12. Molesto
#INFERNO #VOICE #ACCENT #FLORENCE

13. Molesto /mo'lɛsto/
Meaning: «Annoying; vindictively»
La tua loquela ti fa manifesto
di quella nobil patria natio
a la qual forse fui troppo molesto
(Your accent makes it clear that you belong
among the natives of the noble city
I may have dealt with too vindictively)

14. This adjective appears in Inferno 10. Dante hears a voice calling him
“Tuscan” (because of his accent), asking him to come closer. Dante
gets scared but Virgil, his guide, encourages him to move forward.
He finds out that the man calling him is Farinata degli Uberti, a very
important political figure of Florence.
While he’s talking to Farinata, Dante uses the adjective “molesto”
referring to the fact that his political opinions towards Pope
Boniface VIII (Bonifacio VIII) led him to be exiled from his beloved
city Florence. This is considered one of the most important political
cantos of the Comedy.

15. Thank you!

16. Resources
https://www.lanazione.it/firenze/curiosit%C3%A0/dante-parole-proverbiali-
1.1552760
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/06/23/recapping-dante-canto-33-or-
historys-vaguest-cannibal/
https://divinacommedia.weebly.com/
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