August 25, 2010

Dante Alighieri

“I had already parted from those shadows, and was following my leader’s footsteps, when someone, behind me, pointing his finger, called out: ‘See, the light does not seem to shine, on the left of him, below, and he seems to carry himself like a living man.’ I turned my eyes, at the sound of these words, and saw them all gazing in wonder, at me alone, at me alone and at the broken sunlight.”

Dante Alighieri (Florence 1265- Ravenna 1321), The Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, Cantos V

"Dante Alighieri" fresco from "La Divina Commedia" by Domenico di Michelino (1465) in the "Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore" or The "Duomo of Florence"