Visitando il maestro, il capo

 Dante Alighieri, exiled from his beloved Florence, made his way to Ravenna, which is a rather long way away.  Shunned because of his affiliation with the White Guelphs, a political party that desired to have more freedom from Rome's influence on the political and economic trends in Florence.  Pope Boniface was not going to take any lip from him, as he was known as an intellectual force to contend with, so he had Dante (along with the powerful Gherardini family) exiled from Florence.  No more unsalted bread for you!  (Florence was known for its unsalted bread.  A practice that come about because the city refused to pay hiked up salt taxes)

So here in Ravenna, he begins his Comedia.  His desire is to tell his story, a story of a midlife crisis of faith, that is the story of so many.  Calling upon medieval theological ideas, he begins the story of his losing his way, finding himself in a dark wood, standing before the gates of hell.  "Abandon hope all ye who enter here".... and it begins.

At first, he writes in Latin, because Latin is the accepted language of the arts, literature, and all other important things.  But then he has a realization.  He wants this work to have a wider audience.  So he decides to write it in Latin vernacular, the vulgate language, the common tongue, the Tuscan dialect, to be precise.  And this, my darlings, is the beginning of standard Italian. 

He never goes back home.  Rather, he dies in Ravenna in 1321 and is buried here.  His tomb has gone through many manifestations.  The one you visit today, which does indeed contain his bones, was built in 1780.

During the bombing of WWII, his bones were removed and buried nearby in a park.  They still mark that area with a plaque and a mound of ivy.

Every day at 2pm, a reader stands here and reads from the Divine Comedy.  If you want to be a reader, you can apply to do it online.  

Love moves the sun and the stars.