[Good Day and welcome to today: the 25th of March! Today is a very special day called Dantedì, that is; the day dedicated to the great Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, loved by all italophiles the world-over. For native Italians, the sentiment is the same from way-back in their high school days when Dante’s most famous literary masterpiece was required reading!]

In case you’ve been in lockdown for way... way too long, Dante Alighieri (simply and lovingly known as ‘Dante’) is the author of “La Divina Commedia” [“The Divine Comedy”, a.k.a. “Dante’s Inferno”].

By the way, have you noticed the word Dantedì?

Leave it to Italians to cleverly meld the name ‘Dante’ with the same endings as the names of the weekdays, making Dantedì look like a member of the weekday club! So, what about that accented ‘dì’? Think of the ‘dì’ endings in weekday names as a short form of the word ‘day’.

All the days of the week – except il sabato [Saturday] and la domenica [Sunday] have an accent on the ‘i’ at the end: lunedì [Monday], martedì [Tuesday], mercoledì [Wednesday], giovedì [Thursday], and venerdì [Friday]. In fact, ‘dì’ is another word for 'day' (of course, normally it’s giorno), and it comes from the latin word diem [by the day].

Here is a simple example: “Un bel dì vedremo.” [Some beautiful day, we'll see.”] In and around Milano and other areas of the northern regions of Italia, the word buondì is used abundantly to mean an informal buongiorno ['good morning’ or ‘good day’].

So… yes, today is Dantedì!

And of course, it’s capitalized because it refers to a proper noun – a person’s name - whereas regular names of the week are not capitalized in Italian.

But don't get me wrong… Dantedì only occurs on March 25.

Allora… perché proprio oggi, il 25 marzo? 

Let's look at some fun facts about the poet… but first…

Italian poet, writer, philosopher

Born in Firenze in 1265

Died and entombed in Ravenna in 1321 (aged 56)

Dante is known for establishing the use of the vernacular in literature at a time when most poetry was written in Latin, which was accessible only to the most educated readers. His use of the Tuscan dialect helped establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. As he was instrumental in establishing the literature of Italy, Dante is known as The Father of the Italian Language.

Dante is usually pictured wearing a laurel wreath around his head, a traditional crown for poets that dates back to Ancient Greece. Today, the crown of laurel leaves is synonymous with achievement, and a laureate is one who has bestowed on him or her an award or achievement. In fact, Italian college graduates wear a ceremonial crown of live laurel leaves with red berries plus a gown during their graduation ceremony - equivalent to commencement exercises in the United States.

La Divina Commedia was started by Dante in 1308 and was completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the greatest literary work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. It is a three-volume ‘narrative poem’ written in Italian rather than Latin. It embraces human individuality and happiness in a way which suggests the beginning of the Renaissance. La Commedia begins with Inferno [Hell] and describes what happens to the souls of the wicked who are condemned to suffer the torments of Hell.

So… what’s this about?

The story takes as its literal subject the state of the soul after death. It presents an image of divine justice dispensed as due punishment - or reward - and describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (i.e.; Heaven). Allegorically, this work represents the soul's journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), which is then followed by the soul's ascent to God (Paradiso).

How ‘big’ is La Divina Commedia?

The Barnes & Noble Signature Classics Series version of The Divine Comedy is 256 pages. The classic Italian version is composed of 134,850 words – 14,233 lines – and is divided into three ‘canticles’ (i.e.; parts, volumes, books) – Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Each of these consist of 33 ‘canti’ [cantos] . There are 100 cantos in the work.

I read that the average reader will spend 6 hours and 24 minutes reading this book at 250 words-per-minute. However, I might add that, as with many ancient literary works, the Italian can be a bit arcane and tough to understand in some cases; that time-to-read number might just to be a bit understated. It should also be noted that much of the narrative is in the Tuscan dialect.

Purtroppo, il caffè è finito! 😥Ritorniamo a finire di leggere questo articolo affascinante...

Tutti sanno bene che la donna amata da Dante era Beatrice, però il poeta aveva una moglie chiamata Gemma Donati - sposati intorno al 1285 - da cui ha sicuramente avuto tre figli (Pietro, Iacopo e Antonia - che diventa suora con il nome di Beatrice) e forse altri due, Giovanni e Gabriello.

[Everyone knows that Dante's lover was Beatrice, but the poet had a wife called Gemma Donati, whom he married around 1285. It is well understood that they had three children, Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia, the latter of which, interestingly, became a nun with the name Beatrice). Perhaps there were two others, Giovanni and Gabriello. This is unclear.]

[Dante's zodiac sign was Gemini, as he himself tells us in his book in the twenty-second Canto del Paradiso.]

[Many scholars assume that Dante suffered from epilepsy, the episodes of fainting that he tells of in The Divine Comedy were likely inspired by his own condition.]

[According to ancient manuscripts, the original title of La Divina Commedia was just 'Commedia', alternating with the form 'Comedia' (containing one ‘m’). It was only in the 18th century editions of the work that the title La Divina Commedia was confirmed.]

[The three canticles all end with the noun ‘star’. The stars symbolize the destination or aim of Dante's journey; to arrive to Heaven, thus to arrive at moral integrity.]

[A curious fact tied to the ‘language of Dante’ cannot be ignored. It is always said that Dante is "the father of the Italian language." Why is this? Because eight out of ten words that Dante uses in the days of, and within La Divina Commedia are actively used today. Italians use around 80% of the language used in Dante's time! This was revealed by the linguist Tullio de Mauro, project head for the writing of the “Grande Dizionario Italiano dell’uso” [“Great Dictionary of Italian Usage”].

➜ Incidentally, Amazon has an edition in paperback available for $2,169.24 … I just checked! Saving up those pennies!!>

La locuzione “Il Bel Paese” – per riferirsi all’Italia – è stata ‘inventata’ da Dante. La troviamo nel Canto XXXIII dell’Inferno, "Del bel paese là dove ’l sì sona." (il bel Paese dove il sì risuona), ossia... "l’Italia dove si parla la lingua italiana."

[The phrase, "Il Bel Paese", – "The Beautiful Country" used to refer to Italia (and which, along with "La Bella Lingua", I use often in my course descriptions), was coined by Dante himself, where we can find it in Canto XXXIII of the Inferno: “Del bel paese là dove 'l sì sona" (the beautiful country where "yes" is sì), i.e.; "Italy, where the Italian language is spoken."

Per festeggiare questa giornata di Dantedì, invito ai miei lettori e studenti d’italiano a scoprire qualcosa in più sulla Divina Commedia e magari leggere solo una parte, anche se solamente le parole iniziali del testo: "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita, mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, che la diritta via era smarrita."

[To celebrate this day of Dantedì, I invite my readers and students of Italian to discover something more about La Divina Commedia, and perhaps to read a part of it, even if only the opening words: "When half way through the journey of life, I found myself in a gloomy forest, because the correct path was lost.”]

[Well! We've arrived at the end of another article that teaches us something about Italian culture and about Dante!]

Before we say arrivederci al prossimo numero della nostra

🇮🇹Newsletter Italiana... here are some interesting links for you where you can find out more about Dante Alighieri and La Divina Commedia:

Allora... arrivederci al prossimo numero della nostra bellissima 🇮🇹Newsletter Italiana!

[So...we'll see each other again in the next issue of our beautiful 🇮🇹Newsletter Italiana!]

is written and published by

Sandro "Sandrino" Cuccia

sandrino@hey.com