“Cinema Dante is Asmara’s oldest cinema and has recently been renovated. It stands as testament to the size and scale of the cinemas in Asmara before the boom in the late 1930s, when the larger cinemas were constructed.” [. . .]     —Shabait, August 27, 2020

“During the last quarter of the last Century, the Italian colonial masters’ plan was to build a little Roma at the very heart of Midri Bahri. Following are the main schools, stadium, cinemas and opera houses called after the names of their artists, statesmen and poets: [. . .]

“Dante Alighieri, the Florentin was one of canonized men-of-letters who refined the Italian language to majestic height. The Cinema Dante, like Odeon and Cinema Asmara, were originally opera houses or reading and symphony arenas where the upper-class Italians used to entertain in their exclusive social world located at Campo Restrittivo (restricted camp or the later corrupted word Kombishtato).” [. . .]    –Haile Bokure, Eritrea Madote

Image credit Clay Gilliland

Contributed by Sephora Affa (Florida State University ’24)