FLORENCE, ITALY – The city of Florence remembered the birth of Dante Alighieri yesterday, Saturday 31 May, 2014. Dante was born in the Tuscan capital 749 years ago.
The celebration began with an historical parade started from Palazzo Vecchio to the statue of the Supreme Poet in Santa Croce, where it was laid a wreath of flowers.
Finally, an institutional ceremony was held in the Palazzo Vecchio’s Salone de’ Dugento.
Dante Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedia and later called Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. Dante is considered the Father of the Italian language.
Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph–Ghibelline conflict. He fought in the Battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289), with the Florentine Guelphs against Arezzo Ghibellines.
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (Guelfi Bianchi) — Dante’s party — and the Black Guelphs (Guelfi Neri).
The Whites took power first and expelled the Blacks. In response, Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of Florence. But things changed soon. When a new Black Guelph government was installed, Dante was condemned to exile.
He died in 1321 (aged 56) and as buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore.
Marco Bastiani is the founder of Florence Daily News, launched in 2011. He has worked as a journalist since 1998, and was a political editor at Il Giornale della Toscana. He later held senior roles in communications for public and private institutions. A board member of the Tuscan Foundation of the Order of Journalists, he lives in Florence, loves the sea and Greece, and has two children.
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