Dante700, Ferrara celebrates the Poet with newsstand special and an exhibition at Ariostea Library

Ferrara, home of the Ferrara-based Aldighieri family, to whom Dante’s surname can be traced, is also celebrating the seven hundredth anniversary of the Supreme Poet’s death. While waiting for the exhibition that, starting Sept. 2, will be set up at the Ariostea Municipal Library and will present manuscripts, ancient editions and artistic works of Dante’s ’journey,’ a special dedicated precisely to Dante will be released tomorrow in the city’s newsstands as a supplement to the Quotidiano Nazionale, Il Resto carlino, Il Giorno and La Nazione.

“Dante’s story has touched Ferrara’s and inspired so many artists and writers. This gives our city a prominent place in these celebrations. Therefore, on this occasion we want to show and rediscover many aspects related to the Supreme Poet,” commented Ferrara Mayor Alan Fabbri.

"Dante was able to mark the deepest feelings of the human soul and of the Christian soul that turns to God, but not only as his personal story intersects with the events of the Divine Comedy in which geographical references of our territory can be found," added Culture Councillor Marco Gulinelli. “The Ferrarese origins of Dante Alighieri whose relatives are buried in the medieval crypt of the Aldighieri of Ferrara, which still exists in the church of Santa Maria Nuova and San Biagio, is undoubtedly an important circumstance that influenced in some way the Ferrarese artists during the 20th century who executed works to illustrate the Divine Comedy, among whom are Previati, Mentessi, Tagliaferri, Minerbi, up to contemporary Sergio Zanni. Ferrara’s imagination is linked to the great poet giving added value to the celebration that Ferrara will dedicate to him for the VII Centenary of his death.”

The special on newsstands tomorrow will include some results of an in-depth study, drafted with the collaboration of art historian Lucio Scardino, on the figure of Dante, who is linked to Ferrara by dynastic issues: the Aldighiera of “Val di Pado” mentioned in Paradise can in fact be traced back to the Aldighieri family of Ferrara, which married Cacciaguida. For a hundred years that Dante verse from Paradiso has been inscribed on the church of Santa Maria Nuova and San Biagio, in Ferrara, where the crypt with the remains of the Aldighieri themselves is located. In fact, on the facade of the church that borders, not surprisingly, Via Aldighieri, at number 42, appears a plaque with an engraving of Dante’s verses: “...mia donna venne a me di val di Pado / e quindi il sopranome tuo si feo.”In the Medieval Via delle Volte, moreover, a marble plaque reminds us how there the very ancient remains of the Fontanesi houses can still be identified, which belonged to the stock of the Aldighieri family, maternal great-grandparents of the Supreme Poet.

The historical reconstruction of the Ferrarese Dante anticipates the upcoming display at the Ariostea Library, which will also showcase several valuable incunabula of the Commedia, the oldest of which dates back to 1477-1478, and other versions dating back to the late 15th century enriched with phylographs, vignettes and full-page illustrations. The exhibition will be enhanced by some illustrations from the collection of drawings of Franco Morelli, a Ferrara-based artistic interpreter of the Comedy.The exhibition will be curated by Mirna Bonazza, head of the Municipality’s Libraries operating unit, and University of Ferrara professor Sandro Bertelli, among the curators of the Dante-themed exhibitions to be held in fourteen venues in Emilia-Romagna during 2021, in collaboration with the Italian Dante Society.

Pictured is the Aldighieri crypt in Santa Maria Nuova, Ferrara.

Dante700, Ferrara celebrates the Poet with newsstand special and an exhibition at Ariostea Library

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