Italy marking 700th anniversary of Dante’s death
ROME — It would be hard to look back over the centuries of Italy’s rich cultural history and reach a consensus over who was the nation’s greatest painter, sculptor, or composer.
But the most important Italian writer? That’s much easier. Dante.
This year marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, the Tuscan-born writer, poet, and philosopher.
Despite the limitations of the coronavirus pandemic, the country is pulling out all the stops to commemorate the event, as it did last year for the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance master painter Raphael and the quincentennial of Leonardo da Vinci’s death in 2019.
Most of the commemorative events will take place later in the year, closer to the actual anniversary of Dante’s death on Sept 14.
But the first major event on the calendar will take place next Monday — the date established as “Dantedi” (Dante Day) in Italy — when Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni, known for his televised performances from Dante’s greatest work, the epic poem Divine Comedy, will recite a song from the poem at the Quirinal Palace with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in attendance.
All told, there will be more than 500 initiatives in more than 100 locations across Italy over the course of the year, including the start of work on a Museum of the Italian Language in Florence, dedicated to Dante.
There will be a series of exhibits, workshops, readings, and other events under the “Dante2021” banner like the release of a documentary film, an exhibit of acclaimed photos by Massimo Sestini showing spots important in the poet’s life, and free tours of the parts of Florence that appear in Dante’s works, set up by the city’s “Dante 700” organizing committee.
Symphonic performances
On Sept 14, the “Viva Dante” (Dante Lives) initiative will start to have performers perpetually read from Divine Comedy around the clock. The year will close with three special symphonic performances led by maestro Riccardo Muti in Verona, Ravenna, and Florence.
Divine Comedy is considered by critics and historians to be the preeminent work in Italian and one of the greatest works in Western literature.
It is significant because it was written in Italian, uncommon in the 14th century when Latin was still the language of learned people. As such, it is considered a “unifying” work by Italians.
That is a point made by Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini, who said earlier this month that Dante’s work “helps us feel we are a national community, giving us confidence during a difficult time for our country struggling with the pandemic”.
Claudio Marazzini, president of Crusca Academy, the top authority on the Italian language, said the anniversary of Dante’s death is important for many reasons that go beyond his role in legitimizing the Italian language centuries ago.