№ 271/кор. “World Cultural Celebrities” series. 750th Birth Anniversary of Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), poet

The Family of Dante Alighieri belonged to the nobility of the city of Florence. The poet was educated at the municipal school, then, presumably, studied at the University of Bologna (on even less reliable sources, during the period of exile also attended the University of Paris). He took an active part in the political life of Florence: from 15 June to 15 August, 1300 he was a member of the government (he was elected to the post of the abbot of the Monastery) and tried to prevent the aggravation of the struggle between the parties of white and black Guelph. When the Black Guelph came to power (27 January, 1302) he was sentenced to exile and deprived of civil rights.

His interests brought him to discover the Provencal poetry of the troubadours, such as Arnaut Daniel, and the Latin writers of classical antiquity, including Cicero, Ovid and especially Virgil. At 18, Dante met Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia and soon after Brunetto Latini; together they became the leaders of the dolce stil novo. The most famous youthful poems of Dante chanted young woman named Beatrice and mourned her death. Some fifty poetical commentaries by Dante are known (the so-called Rime, rhymes), others being included in the later Vita Nuova and Convivio. Other studies are reported, or deduced from Vita Nuova or the Comedy, regarding painting and music.

The poem "Divine Comedy" (1307-1321, the first printed edition in 1472) became the peak of creativity of poet. This is the traditional genre of "vision", it depicts the poet's journey afterlife consists of three parts: "Hell", "Purgatory" and "Paradise". This work reflected Dante’s point of view of Christian morality on a short human life.

Dante Alighieri - the creator of the Italian literary language, which is based on the Tuscan dialect, words and expressions from other dialects, Latinisms and neologisms. Creativity of Dante Alighieri had an enormous influence on the development of Italian literature and European culture in general.