Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“The real-life individuals Dante encounters in heaven and hell betray his political viewpoints. He opposed the aspirations of Pope Boniface VIII and longed for the Church to focus on the afterlife rather than earthly riches. Politically, he was nostalgic for the heyday of the Roman Republic, when leaders were loyal not to themselves but to the Republic.” — Tim Brinkhof, “Dante’s Divine Comedy isn’t only about religion. It’s a political statement.”, Big Think, July 4, 2023
“Un progetto, che sarà pubblicato in tre dvd nel 2023, a metà tra letteratura, cinema e musica: una composizione per banda musicale mai incisa e le immagini ritrovate circa vent’anni fa di una trilogia di film muti sulla Divina Commedia del 1911.” — “Castelli Romani, il viaggio di Dante per musica e immagini con la banda musicale di Albano”, La Repubblica, March 25, 2023
It has been announced that, in 2023, a unique soundtrack by Albano’s band will be released, accompanying a new version of the Helios-Psiche 1911 film adaptation of the full Divina Commedia (not to be confused with the more famous 1911 Inferno by Milano Films).
“A deadly heatwave named after Dante’s Inferno has claimed its first victim with temperatures soaring closer to an uncomfortable 45C.
The brutal heatwave has caused chaos across Europe and a 44-year-old has since died due to the horror heats which are spreading across the Mediterranean.
[…]
The man died in hospital hours after collapsing, with life-threatening heats now warned of as Brits flock to the Mediterranean to lap up the sun, although the brutal Cerberus weather could prove dangerous.
Cerberus, named after the creature which guards the gates of the underworld in Dante’s first third of The Divine Comedy, is also the name of a sweltering heat weather system in the Sahara.” —Ewan Gleadow, “Deadly heatwave named after Dante’s Inferno claims first victim as locals wilt in 45C,” Daily Star, July 12, 2023 (retrieved November 10, 2023)
Pierre Vassura, a visual artist born in Romagna, Italy, and based in British Columbia, has created a series of paintings called “ANALOGIES OF DANTE ALIGHIERI’S DIVINE COMEDY, INFERNO – CANTOS 1 TO 10.” Vassura, who paints according to a style he calls “analogical formalism,” uses enamel paint on wood panels to create his abstract depictions of each canto of the first ten cantos of Dante’s poem. See more details at Vassura Analogy Art.
“The steam and geysers rising from the valleys of Tuscany inspired Dante Alighieri’s vision of hell in The Divine Comedy. Centuries later, they’re providing Italy with an inexhaustible supply of renewable energy.
“Larderello is home to the world’s oldest geothermal power site, where Enel Green Power turns heat released by the Earth’s core into electricity. The facility started powering light bulbs in 1904, and now the whole site generates more than 5% of the nation’s clean power production.” —Petra Sorge and Alberto Brambilla, “Dante’s Inferno May Have the Answer for Europe’s Energy Bind,” The Japan Times (August 28, 2023)
All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.
Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.
