“Scholars believe they have found a portrayal of Dante being sent to burn in the fires of damnation, hidden in the corner of a 700-year-old fresco in Tuscany.

They say the figure of a man with an aquiline nose and a distinctive red beret bears a striking resemblance to known portraits of Dante, who is revered in Italy as much as Shakespeare is esteemed in Britain.

The demonisation of the poet may have been motivated by the bad relations he had with the Church.

The fresco was painted between 1336 and 1342 by an artist named Bonamico Buffalmacco and adorns a wall of the Camposanto, a historic cemetery in Pisa which is close to the famous Leaning Tower.”    — Nick Squires, The Telegraph, February 1, 2022.

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