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Wandering Through Dante's Lands in the Casentino Valley
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September 2, 2009 |
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Some years ago, while I was in a library, my attention was drawn to the dusty and ancient cover of a book. Some golden letters composed the title: Through Dante's Lands. Impressions in Tuscany. I took the book from the shelf and opened it. A picture of Trinita's Bridge in Florence was there, the place where Dante first met his beloved Beatrice. This was a novel about a journey through Dante's lands in Tuscany, and the Trinita Bridge was the starting point for this journey.
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The Tumultuous Relationship Between Dante and the City of Florence
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December 11, 2007 |
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Dante Alighieri, perhaps one of the greatest poets of the medieval period, was born in 1265 into an affluent Italian family. Having nobility, ancient lineage, and a widely respected name, the only thing the Alighieri family lacked was money. To compensate for this financial deficit, Alighieri's parents, Alighiero de Bellincione and Bella degli Abati, arranged for twelve-year-old Dante, to eventually marry Gemma di Manetto Donati, a distant relative from Corso, Italy. Receiving a sizable dowry, Dante married Gemma as a young adult, had four children with her, studied at the University of Bologna, and authored several pieces of literature, such as Commedia, the poet's best-known work.
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