Real
Val di Chiana
The Valdichiana is a vast plain in central Tuscany that Dante cites in the Inferno as an example of an unhealthy, malaria-ridden area.
Description
In Inferno XXIX, the Valdichiana is evoked in a simile that opens the description of the tenth bolgia, inhabited by the falsifiers. Dante compares the spectacle of the damned struck by repulsive diseases to the patients in the hospitals of the most unhealthy regions of Italy, pairing the Maremma and the Valdichiana as territories infested by malaria. The phrase 'di Valdichiana tra 'l luglio e 'l settembre', set between July and September, evokes precisely the season in which the marshes and stagnant waters of the valley made the air particularly unwholesome.
In the text
Linked verses
1 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto XXIX | 47 | di Valdichiana tra ’l luglio e ’l settembre | Open verse |