I believe that these considerations can also be shared by those of Dante who only observe the literary or historical aspect, but to diminish the transcendence and the weight of transcendence in Dante's work, in my opinion, constitutes a true mutilation of his poetic grandeur . Not even William Blake has escaped this temptation, although his illustrations of the Divine Comedy are memorable artistic masterpieces. However one turns it, Dante, for centuries, has inspired images and beauty, boundless dreams and sudden awakenings; to me Dante has always appeared as an immense monument, unapproachable as a dolomitic rock. The mere thought of being able to write something about him seemed an affront to his greatness. Instead, sometimes things get out of hand, strange coincidences are enough or, perhaps, just a nudge from the case.

William Blake -Ulysses

William Shekespeare at the Stone Castle
Effatà Publisher

Florence

And then, in the background, it always reappeared Florence, my wife's Tuscany, the months I spent at the National Library preparing my thesis, during a hot summer that dried up the Arno waters. The days passed at Palazzo Pitti, the Uffizi, and the Bargello reappeared to discuss with my father-in-law about Fattori, Soffici, Lega and Sernesi.

And Dante had walked those same streets, the same tangle of streets, the Ponte Vecchio, the beautiful San Giovanni, the church of Santa Margherita where, perhaps, he had met Beatrice for the first time and, in any case, he had married Gemma Donati there. One of the most surprising and grandiose journeys in history had departed from these stones and these boroughs. A winding and difficult path through the mysterious meanders of life where courage and fear intertwine, love and hate, defeats, triumphs and often the bitter morsels of unbearable humiliation. But if the look is curved and frowning, the thought frees itself high above the clouds and reaches, between falls and obstinate ascents, the embrace of the shining Light that governs illuminating the Universe.