1. A long journey in the next world, a long journey of the soul The Divine Comedy is the most important italian poem of all times. It was written by Dante Alighieri at the end of the Middle Ages (1308 – 1321 ). Dante’s statue in Verona Dante and the next world

3. The Divine Comedy is, at the same time, a very real journey: a journey of the soul from sin (Hell), through awareness, grief and repentance (Purgatory), to knowledge and salvation (Heaven); a journey that gradually takes man from the darkness of Hell to the light of Heaven. Hell Purgatory Paradise

4. THE INCIPIT (the beginning) OF THE COMEDY Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura Che la diritta via era smarrita When I was middle aged I found myself in a dark wood Cause I have lost my way The dark wood

5. The dark wood symbolisez the soul crisis the poet experienced when he got to middle age: when he was about 35 years old he actually realized he was a sinner. a lustful, proud and mean person. So Dante began his long and difficult spiritual journey through the realms of after life. At the beginning, on the way, Dante meets three animals: a she-wolf, a lion and a lonza (an imaginary animal similar to a leopard). The she-wolf is the symbol of lust; the lion represents pride and the lonza represents greed.

6. While in Hell, in Purgatory and in Heaven Dante meets the souls of men and women who really lived in the past: they tell their life to the poet and explain the reasons why they are there. Dante thinks over all these stories, he reflects upon good and evil in mankind and his understanding of human nature gets deeper and deeper until the final contemplation of God and the salvation of his soul. Paradise’s souls Hell’s souls