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Portrait image of Dante Alighieri Fresco by Domenico de Michelino (detail)

Dante Alighieri

Country/Region:
Italy
Born:
1265
Dead:
September 14, 1321
Genres:
Poetry, Miscellaneous prose
The Italian poet Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri, referred to as Dante, was born in Florence to an old, noble, but no longer wealthy family. He studied theology and philosophy at Bologna and fought the Arezzo Ghibellines on the side of the Florentine Guelph cavalry at the battle of Campaldino in 1289. He was promised to, and later married, Gemma di Manetto Donati who came from a prominent Florentine family. After the Ghibellines had been defeated, Dante participated in politics on the side of the "white" Guelphs who sought greater independence from the Papacy in Rome. The "black" Guelphs rose to power in 1301, and the following year Dante was forced to go into exile. He sought shelter with various noble families in Verona and in Ravenna, where he died without having revisited the city of his birth. Most of his work was written in exile.

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