Dante Alighieri is considered the father of Italian literature. His masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, is widely regarded as the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language. Written between 1308 and 1321, the Divine Comedy is an epic poem that follows Dante on an allegorical journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso). Through this journey, Dante establishes the Tuscan language as the standardized Italian and influences many other important writers around the world.

1. Who is considered the father of the
Italian literature?
Giacomo Leopardi
Alessandro Manzoni
Dante Alighieri
Luigi Pirandello

2. What is the greatest literary work
written by Dante?
Divina Commedia
Decameron
Canzoniere
Le Rime

3. Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, simply
called Dante (c. 1265–1321)
was a major Italian poet of
the Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy,
originally called Comedìa and later
called Divina by Boccaccio, is widely
considered the greatest literary work
composed in the Italian language and
a masterpiece of world literature.
Dante is also called "the Father of
the Italian language“.

4. • The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written
between c. 1308 and 1321.
• The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision
of the afterlife is representative of the
medieval world-view as it had developed in
the Western Church by the 14th century.

5. Like Dante in Italy, who’s
considered the father of the English
literature?
Charles Dickens
Geoffrey Chaucer
William
Shakespeare
William
Wordsworth

6. What language did Dante use to
write Divina Commedia?
Tuscan
Sicilian
Latin
French

7. INFERNO, CANTO I
In the middle of the journey of our life,
I found myself in a dark wood with the
right road lost.

8. Like Chaucer in England with Middle
English in his Canterbury Tales, Dante
established the Tuscan language as the
standardized Italian language, with his
Divina Commedia.

9. Do you know that…
Divina Commedia is divided into
three parts: Inferno (Hell),Purgatorio
(Purgatory) and Paradiso (Paradise).
Inferno is also really popular
among young people because
few years ago a videogame
based upon this came out:
Dante’s Inferno. Do you know it?

10. What is Divina Commedia about?
• The poem follows the narrator, Dante, through his
journey as he attempts to purify his soul in order to enter
Paradiso, where he sees God.
• Dante’s journey is an allegory of life itself.
• Throughout the poem, Dante comes across characters,
each one symbolic of some sort of flaw or virtue that is
either punished or rewarded.
• According to Dante, some sins are forgivable whilst
others are unforgiveable and send the sinner into eternal
suffering.

11. General structure of
Dante’s world

12. Dante’s hell has Nine Circles:
1 Limbo;
2 Lust;
3 Gluttony;
4 Greed;
5 Anger;
6 Heresy;
7 Violence;
8 Fraud;
9 Treachery.

13. The purgatory has Seven Terraces:
1 the proud;
2 the envious;
3 the wrathful;
4 the slothful;
5 the covetous;
6 the gluttonous;
7 the lustful.

14. Paradise has Nine Spheres:
1 The Moon: The Inconstant;
2 Mercury: The Ambitious;
3 Venus: The Lovers;
4 The Sun: The Wise;
5 Mars: The Warriors of the
Faith;
6 Jupiter: The Just Rulers;
7 Saturn: The Contemplatives;
8 The Fixed Stars: Faith, Hope,
and Love;
9 The Primum Mobile: The
Angels.

15. JORGE LUIS BORGES
Do you know that…
Dante has had great influence on some of the most
important writers in the world ?