All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in January 2022.
All images © by Roberto Piperno, owner of the domain. Write to romapip@quipo.it.
Notes:
Page revised in January 2022.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is both the founder and the best known poet of Italian literature. His poem
La Divina Commedia, a journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, was written in volgare, the everyday language
spoken in Florence which, mainly because of the success of the poem, became the basis of Italian and in a sense of the Italian nation.
The verses have eleven syllables and are grouped in triplets rhyming aba, bcb, cdc, etc..
Dante, Virgil and Cerberus in the Circle of the Gluttonous (Inferno - Canto VI) - Engraving by Federico Zuccari 1586-1588
The poem has many references of a general nature which reflect the feelings of Dante towards the great past of Rome.
Dante visited Rome in 1301 as a member of a delegation sent to Rome to try to understand the objectives of Pope Boniface VIII, who had repeatedly tried
to influence political developments in Florence: some specific references he made in his poem to Roman sites are no doubt related to that journey.
There are several English translations of La Divina Commedia, the best known being that by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (used in this page) who
chose to keep very close to the original, even when the structure of the sentence did not suit English syntax.
Purgatorio, Canto XVI
Soleva Roma, che 'l buon mondo feo, | Purgatorio, Canto XVI
Rome, that reformed the world, accustomed was |
At the times of Dante, the Italian city-states were split between those supporting the Pope
(Guelphs) and those supporting the Emperor (Ghibellins): the split often existed inside each city with political factions claiming
to support one or the other. The split had much more to do with business than ideals. So because Pisa was Ghibellin, Florence turned
Guelph and in Florence the Guelphs were split into White Guelphs and Black Guelphs. Dante supported the White Guelphs, but
while he was in Rome, Charles of Valois, brother of the king of France, acting as envoy of the Pope, entered Florence with a small army
to settle the disputes between the two Guelph parties. He favoured the appointment of a new Black Guelph government
and the subsequent ousting of the members of the rival party. Dante never returned to Florence and for twenty years
he lived at the courts of Italian princes, mostly in Verona and Ravenna where he died in 1321. He expressed his political theories in a lengthy treatise (De Monarchia) and in a more effective way in describing the two suns of Rome (the Pope and the Emperor) each enlightening a specific aspect of life. The historical reference is rather forced because the recognition of the Christian religion by Constantine almost coincided with the move of the capital of the Empire to Constantinople. The picture shows a detail of dum U dvou sluncu (house At the two suns), 47 Nerudova, near Vlasska, Prague. |
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Paradiso, Canto XXXI Se i barbari, venendo da tal plaga
Veggendo Roma e l'ardua sua opra, | Paradiso, Canto XXXI If the barbarians, coming from some region
Beholding Rome and all her noble works, |
La Divina Commedia abounds in comparisons, which are often the highest points of the poem. After the long journey through Hell and Purgatory and nearing the end of his tour of Heaven, Dante is admitted to the vision of the saints and he compares his wonder at this sight, with that of a barbarian coming from northern Europe (the regions under the nymph Helice, a symbol of the Great Bear), who first sees Rome. The impact of first seeing Rome was described by many Latin writers, including Virgil who is the guide of Dante in the poem (in Hell and Purgatory). The picture shows a detail of a statue of a barbarian prisoner in Arco di Costantino: the face was restored by Pietro Bracci in 1733.
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Purgatorio, Canto VI
Vieni a veder la tua Roma che piagne | Purgatorio, Canto VI
Come and behold thy Rome, that is lamenting, |
In these verses Dante made an appeal for intervention to the (German) Emperor who neglected his duties and left Rome in a state of abandonment (when Dante wrote them even the Pope had abandoned Rome), but the triplet expresses a more general nostalgia for a past of fame and power. The glory of the past compared with today's misery and in general the heritage of ancient Rome is something Italians have had to deal with for centuries. From the vindication of direct links with ancient Rome of many Italian cities (such as Venice and Siena) to the attempts to revive the Roman empire by Mussolini, the past continues to influence the way Italians see themselves (and foreigners see Italians).
The picture shows a detail of an ancient statue called Tusnelda or Germania vinta in Loggia della Signoria in Florence. |
Inferno, Canto XVIII
Nel fondo erano ignudi i peccatori; Come i Roman per l'essercito
molto, Che da l'un lato tutti hanno
la fronte | Ponte S. AngeloInferno, Canto XVIII
Down at the bottom were the sinners naked;
Even as the Romans, for the mighty host,
For all upon one side towards the Castle |
Many believe that this comparison made by Dante between
the orderly flows of sinners in Hell and of pilgrims during the Holy Year 1300 is evidence that Dante was in Rome
during that year, but the matter is still debated. | |
Inferno, Canto XIX ... «Dunque che a me richiedi?
Se di saper ch'i' sia ti cal
cotanto,
E veramente fui figliuol de
l'orsa, |
Orsini FamilyInferno, Canto XIX ..."Then what wantest thou of me?
If who I am thou carest so much to know,
And truly was I son of the She-bear, |
Dante was particularly angered by the simoniac behaviour of some popes who sold ecclesiastical preferments for their own profit. He shows them in Hell, stuck upside down in narrow holes in the ground with their feet on fire. The verses describe the meeting between Dante and Nicholas III, Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, pope in 1277-1280, who admits his wrongdoings by using a metaphor making reference to the family symbol, the bear. The bear is known for being very gluttonous. His acts, aimed at favouring by all means his nephews, brought him wealth above (on Earth) and pain in Hell. The picture shows a plinth now in the Vatican Grottoes and once a part of the lost monument to Pope Nicholas III in S. Pietro Vecchio. The left side shows the Orsini coat of arms while the right side shows a bear, the family symbol (Orsini = little bears). | |
AventinoInferno, Canto XXV
Lo mio maestro disse: «Questi è Caco,
Non va co' suoi fratei per
un cammino,
Onde cessar le sue opere biece |
AventinoInferno, Canto XXV
My Master said: "That one is Cacus, who
He goes not on the same road with his brothers,
Whereat his tortuous actions ceased beneath |
According to the myth, Cacus was a centaur
who lived in a deep cave in the valley between the Palatine and the Aventine: he stole the two finest bulls of Hercules, by dragging them
backwards by their tails into his lair. Hercules noticed that the cattle were missing and searched in vain for them.
He had decided to move on with the remaining herd when the bulls hungrily lowed and Hercules was able to trace
the cave where they were kept. He was so angry that he battered Cacus' face to pulp and he went on hitting him
well after his death.
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LateranoInferno, Canto XXVII
Lo principe d'i novi Farisei,
Ché ciascun suo nimico era
Cristiano, |
LateranoInferno, Canto XXVII
The Leader of the modern Pharisees
For each one of his enemies was Christian, |
Boniface VIII was perhaps the person Dante despised most. Very often Dante did not explicitly call the various personages he met in his journey by their name, but he used an indirect approach. For Boniface VIII he chose the infamous title of Prince of the Pharisees and he pointed out that he waged war against other Christians and not against the followers of other religions. The words near unto Lateran in these verses stand for "with the members of the Colonna family", with whom Boniface VIII engaged in repeated fights. The Colonna threatened the Lateran, then the residence of the pope, from their fortifications on the Qurinale hill. It was from a loggia in the Lateran, that Boniface VIII announced the first Jubilee. The picture shows a fresco in S. Giovanni in Laterano portraying the moment of the announcement. In the past the fresco was attributed to Giotto. | |
Pigna del VaticanoInferno, Canto XXXI
La faccia sua mi parea lunga
e grossa |
Pigna del VaticanoInferno, Canto XXXI
His face appeared to me as long and large |
Dante, in order to describe the size of the giant Nimrod's face, compared it with the bronze pine-cone which once stood at the entrance of St. Peter's. Nimrod was the king of Babylon who wanted to build a tower to reach the sky. The pine-cone, once a Roman fountain, is now in Cortile della Pigna in the Vatican. The French painter
Gustave Dorè (1832-1883) is one of the best
known illustrators of La Divina Commedia: he drew gigantic, muscular figures clearly inspired after works by Michelangelo. The image shows an illustration of the meeting between Dante and the Giants by Gustave Dorè. | |
Rupe TarpeaPurgatorio, Canto IX E quando fuor ne' cardini distorti
Non rugghiò sì nè si mostrò sì acra |
Rupe TarpeaPurgatorio, Canto IX
And when upon their hinges were turned round
Roared not so loud, nor so discordant seemed |
A mountain was the traditional representation of Purgatory. At its base an angel watched the heavy gate which controlled the access to it. Dante compared the sound he heard when the gate was opened to allow him and Virgil to continue their journey, with the sound of the doors of the Aerarius, the Roman Treasury, when Julius Caesar had them forced to take possession of its contents. The Treasury was located immediately
below Rupe Tarpea and the main temple of Rome dedicated to Jupiter. Because the hill above the building slid down during the Middle Ages, at the time of Dante nothing of it was visible. It is therefore possible that Dante had in mind the bronze panels of the nearby Curia Julia which were still in place (although the building had been turned into a church dedicated to St. Hadrian). In the XVIIth century the bronze panels were moved to S. Giovanni in Laterano to close the main door of the basilica, which had been renovated by Francesco Borromini in 1644-1655. The image shows the lower bronze panels of the main door of S. Giovanni in Laterano. They were framed in a decoration showing the heraldic symbols of Pope Alexander VII. |
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Colonna TraianaPurgatorio, Canto X
I' mossi i piè' del loco dov'io stava,
Quiv'era storiata l'alta gloria
I' dico di Traiano imperadore;
Intorno a lui parea calcato e pieno |
Colonna TraianaPurgatorio, Canto X
I moved my feet from where I had been standing,
There the high glory of the Roman Prince
'Tis of the Emperor Trajan I am speaking;
Around about him seemed it thronged and full |
The most famous Roman emperors were pagan, but some of them were rescued from Hell. Trajan was resuscitated due to the intercession of St. Gregory who prayed for his soul. He became a Christian and after his second death he was admitted to Heaven. Dante described (without being specific about Colonna Traiana) a marble relief showing the events of Trajan's reign. He made reference to a legendary episode in which the Emperor delayed his departure for war to render justice to a widow. Trajan is portrayed among a host of chevaliers with golden eagles (the Roman standards) moving in the wind. In the reliefs of Colonna Traiana some small objects like lances and standards were cast in gilded bronze and
put in the hands of the marble figures. Because in Colonna Traiana the Emperor was usually portrayed while he delivered a speech to the troops,
Dante might have had in mind later reliefs where the emperors were shown leading their cavalry.
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The background images of this page show portraits of Dante by Raphael (frescoes in the Vatican).
Read What Goethe Saw.
Read What Lord Byron Saw.
Read What Henry James Saw.
Read What Charles Dickens Saw.
Read What Mark Twain Saw.
Read What William Dean Howells Saw.
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Read Dan Brown's Spaghetti Bolognaise (excerpts from Angels and Demons).