Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was an Italian writer and politician. Born in Florence, he held political offices there from the 1290s onward. In 1302 he was exiled from the city and spent the rest of his life at various Italian courts. His works include “La vita nuova,” “De vulgari eloquentia,” “Convivio,” and “Monarchia.” He wrote his major work, the “Divine Comedy,” during his exile and completed it shortly before his death in Ravenna. Written in the Italian vernacular, the poem’s journey through “Inferno,” “Purgatorio,” and “Paradiso” made a major contribution to establishing Italian as a literary language.