Ulysses

Infernum Album, Claver Gold & Murubutu (2020)

November 29, 2021 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

Italian musicians Claver Gold and Murubutu released their collaborative album Infernum (stylized Infernvm) on March 31, 2020. The hip-hop/rap album features songs that make reference to characters and features of Dante’s Inferno including “Paolo e Francesca”, “Antinferno”, “Ulisse”, and “Selva Oscura”. This album will be discussed by scholar Francesco Ciabattoni in his contribution to the forthcoming volume Dante Alive.

For more information about the album, view its Discogs entry here.

The complete album can also be found on a playlist here.

Convict-Actors Recite Dante

November 27, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“Three long-term convicts turned actors who appeared in the Taviani brothers’ prison-set Caesar Must Die Shakespearian film drama are to get out of jail for three hours to recite Dante’s Inferno at a Rome university symposium Thursday marking the 700th anniversary of the Supreme Poet’s death.

“Filippo, Giovanni and Francesco, serving lengthy terms for criminal association in the mafia wing of Rebibbia Prison, will be special guests at the event organized by the pontifical Dante commission.

“The three men said they hoped the three hours would be long enough for them to ‘see the stars again’ like Dante does when he emerges from the pit of Hell.” –ANSA, November 23, 2021

Valley of the Painted Stones Murals in Sicily, Silvio Benedetto (1992)

November 10, 2021 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“La Valle Delle Pietre Dipinte, or the Valley of Painted Stones (also known as the Park of the Divine Comedy), is a series of 110 painted marble slabs that depict events and people from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Artist and sculptor Silvio Benedetto began this endeavor in 1992. Benedetto, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1938, moved to Italy in 1964 and completed other well-known works there, such as the murals for Cinque Terre National Park. He has been called the ‘last of the great mural artists.’

“La Valle delle Pietre Dipinte is located in Campobello di Licata, Sicily. The park is a physical experience as well as an artistic one. Visitors walk through it, going from Hell to Purgatory to Paradise. The journey begins with a downward path into Hell, which features such recognized figures as La Lupa, Beatrice, Francesca and Paolo, and Ulysses. The viewer goes up from Hell to Purgatory, finally ascending the hill to Paradise, where a mural of the Virgin Mary can be seen. The last mural of the series says, ‘E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle’ or ‘And then we went out to see the stars.'” –Contributor Abigail Williams

See also a collection of photographs of the murals at the Valley of Painted Stones here.

For more information about Campobello di Licata and the Valley of Painted Stones, click here.

Contributed by Abigail Williams (University of Arkansas, ’22)

Inf. 26, Fabian Alfie and Mary Watt for “Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante in Our Time”

September 12, 2020 By Professor Arielle Saiber

Canto per Canto: Conversations with Dante in Our Time is a collaborative initiative between New York University’s Department of Italian Studies and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, and the Dante Society of America. The aim is to produce podcast conversations about all 100 cantos of the Divine Comedy, to be completed within the seventh centenary of Dante’s death in 2021.

Teodolinda Barolini interview in Corriere della Sera (May 2020)

June 18, 2020 By Professor Elizabeth Coggeshall

In May 2020, Paolo di Stefano interviewed Teodolinda Barolini for the Corriere della Sera, on how and why to read Dante in the 21st century. Below, an excerpt from the interview, which can be read in full here:

Corriere: “Secondo lei quale aspetto di Dante può affascinare di più un lettore giovane del nostro tempo?”

Barolini: “Il fatto che Dante è un uomo che ha voglia di capire, come Ulisse. Mentre Virgilio nel II libro dell’Eneide squalifica Ulisse come fraudolento, Dante trova il lato positivo di Ulisse in Orazio e soprattutto in quella bellissima espressione di Cicerone che, nel De finibus, definisce la sua discendi cupiditas. Il Convivio comincia con la frase di Aristotele: ‘Tutti li uomini naturalmente desiderano di sapere.’ Ecco, è la brama di sapere il vero motore di Dante.”

Corriere: “Come leggere Dante a scuola?”

Barolini: “Il modo più utile è prendere il testo alla lettera. Basterebbe far leggere ai ragazzi il racconto, avendo fiducia nella narratività della Commedia. Io mi dispero quando arrivo a Petrarca per far capire ai giovani quanto siano squisite quelle poesie, questo sì è un problema. Ma non ci si può disperare di fronte alla Commedia che è un grande motore narrativo che trascina tutti con sé.” — “Dante, un ribelle. Ora leggiamolo.” Interview of Teodolinda Barolini by Paolo di Stefano. Corriere della Sera (May 31, 2020)

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