25 March is Dantedì… Dante Day.

I would be remiss were I not to mention in Italy , today, 25 March is Dantedì… Dante Day.  A national holiday.  25 March, is when Dante started his journey in The Divine Comedy, Holy Thursday night, before Good Friday, to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300.

It nigh on impossible to convey the importance of Dante’s work the tri-partite La Divina Commedia.

What I can do here, and you who know not Dante or know little will thank me, is point you to a good translation and some fun music.

For good translations, try the late, great Inkling Dorothy Sayers’ translation.  She died while working on the Paradiso, but her assistant did an admirable job in completing the Part 1, Inferno, US HERE – UK HERE).

Another good translation is by Anthony Esolen. Part 1, Inferno- US HERE – UK HERE).

Do NOT make the mistake of reading only the Inferno.  The really good stuff comes later in the Purgatorio and Paradiso.

Be smart in your approach to Dante.  Read straight through a canto to get the line of thought and story and then go back over it looking at the notes in your edition.  Sayers has good notes.  Esolen has great notes.  Dante was, I think, the last guy who knew everything.  Hence, every Canto is dense with references.  You will need notes to help with the history, philosophy, cosmology, poetic theory, politics, theology, etc.  Really.

You. Will. Need. Help.  Take it.

There are many online sites.  For example HERE.

For some good music to play while reading your Dante.

The Dante Troubadours

Lo Mio Servente Core: Music at the Time of Dante

Dante and the Troubadours

There are volumes of commentaries by Charles S. Singleton. Not cheap but good for advanced work.

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