N. 22. - The inscription and coat of arms to commemorate the house of DANTE ALIGHIERI is not yet in its place, but will probably be placed in Via Dante Alighieri:

Dante says this of himself. “Dante” is a name abbreviated, as was the custom in those days, from Durante or Durando. (Alighieri see N. 21 Elisei). He was born at Florence 1265. His mother’s name was Bella, of what family is not known.

His father died in the Poet’s childhood, but with the assistance of his preceptor Bruno Latini (see N. 23) “he studied literature and other liberal arts and omitted no pursuit necessary for the accomplishment of a manly character, and mixed in all honourable and noble exercises” says Pelli. When he was nine years old, his passion for Beatrice, whom he immortalised in the Commedia, arose. They first met at a festival in the house of her father.—(See Portinari N. 24).—His first poetic work, the “Vita Nuova” has this love for its subject. He also took part in the battles of Campaldino and one year later in a battle between his countrymen and the citizens of Pisa.—“But neither war nor love prevented Dante from gratifying his desire for knowledge and mental improvement”. He is said to have studied at the universities of Bologna and Padua, as well as in his native city, and there is reason to believe, that he also visited Paris and even Oxford. In 1300 he held the highest office in the Florentine state, being elected chief of the Priors (see Donati N. 26). He belonged by family-tradition to the Guelph party until after his banishment, when he became a fierce Ghibelline. While on a mission at Rome, his enemies prevailed against him and pronounced his banishment.

The occasion of his exile was this: The city had been disturbed by divisions between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, the former remaining in power after 60 years’ fighting. The quarrel of the Bianchi and the Neri, having split the Guelph party into two factions again (see N. 20), the Neri determined to persuade the Pope Boniface VIII to send Charles of Valois to pacify and reform the city;—a measure opposed by the Bianchi. Both took up arms. Dante, who then possessed the supreme authority of the state, called in the multitude to protect the Priors and then proceeded to banish the heads of the two factions: Corso Donati among the Neri; his friend, the poet Guido Cavalcanti, Baldinaccio Adimari and Torrigiani dei Cerchi among the Bianchi. Dante was accused of having treated the Neri with greater rigour—evidently without reason, though their resolve to call in Charles of Valois might have justified him in doing so. However this accusation afforded a pretext to Boniface VIII for sending Charles of Valois to Florence, by whose influence the Neri with Donati at their head were restored to their possessions, and the whole of the Bianchi party driven into exile. As this happened while Dante was not in Florence, having been sent to Rome as an ambassador to the Pope, offering voluntary return to peace and amity among the citizens, his enemies took advantage of his absence on this pacific mission to decree his banishment and confiscate his possessions. From that time Dante sided with the Ghibellines, the Guelphs having imperilled the independence of Florence by inviting Boniface VIII to interfere with their government. He died 1321 in banishment at Ravenna, where after long wanderings and hardships he enjoyed the hospitality of Guido Novello da Polenta, a protector of learning, himself a poet and a kinsman of that unfortunate Francesca da Rimini. It is uncertain what arms Dante bore.