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Dante

The Garisenda Tower and Asinelli Tower in Bologna, Italy. Source: Aliaksei/Adobe Stock

The Iconic Garisenda Tower of Bologna Has Leaned Too Much!

A leaning tower in Italy is at it again, and no, it’s not in Pisa! Rather, it is the Garisenda Tower in Bologna, and officials have now closed it off, along with the central square adjacent to it,...
Fresco of Dante and the Divine Comedy (1465), Domenico di Michelino, Florence cathedral, Italy

A Pilgrimage of Thought, Pt 1: the Politician, Poet, and Pilgrim called Dante Alighieri

Born in Florence in the late thirteenth century, Dante Alighieri would grow up to become one of the most famed and well-read authors of the Italian Middle Ages. The scope of his political and...
Detail of Dante, between the mountain of Purgatory and the city of Florence by Domenico di Michelino. Source: Public domain

Dante’s Handwritten Notes Discovered 700 Years After His Death

An Italian national treasure, and one of the greatest poets and writers to emerge from the Italian Middle Age (indeed, ever), Dante Alighieri was a 13th century and early 14th century writer who was...
Catastrophic 14th-century Climate Events May Foretell Bleak Future

Catastrophic 14th-century Climate Events May Foretell Bleak Future

Sister institutes from Leipzig, Germany have just released a study that discloses important facts about major climate events that occurred during the 14th century AD. Researchers from the Leibniz...
Dante holding open a copy of the Divine Comedy while gazing towards Mount Purgatory (1530), Agnolo Bronzino

A Pilgrimage of Thought, Pt 2: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

The most widely read work of Florentine politician and writer Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy dictates a tale of the three realms of the afterlife as believed by the Italians of the Middle Ages...
Hell - Unknown Master - Portugal - 1st third of 16th century. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Where on Earth is Hell, Or Is It in Our Minds?

One of the most common fears shared by most humans at some time in their lives, is what will happen to them after they die? Many parents freeze when their children ask this question and avoiding the...
The Abyss of Hell, Sandro Botticelli, 1480s

What is hell?

The recent dispute over whether Pope Francis denied the existence of hell in an interview attracted wide attention . This isn’t surprising, since the belief in an afterlife, where the virtuous are...
Old books

A Masterful $2.5 Million Dollar Rare-Book Heist Stuns Community

In an unprecedented incident in 2017, a group of unknown thieves rappelled down into a specially secured warehouse in Feltham, Middlesex in the early hours of January 30 th and made off with 160 rare...
Dante e Virgilio nel Purgatorio, Domenico Morelli

A Pilgrimage of Thought, Pt 4: Dante Ascends Mount Purgatory

Read Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Purgatory is presented within The Divine Comedy as a mountain that must be climbed to be overcome. Following Dante and Virgil's sojourn into Hell, he and his guide...
Botticelli's Map of Dante's inferno

A Pilgrimage of Thought, Pt 3: Dante Treks through the Inferno of Satan

Read Part 1 | Part 2 At the beginning of Inferno , the first section of the Divine Comedy , Dante Alighieri is thirty-five years old in the year 1300—representing both the new millennium and the...