Places

Places of the Divine Comedy

Explore the real and symbolic places Dante crosses on his journey.

LuogoTipologiaMenzioniVersi collegatiDescrizione
LilleReal11Lille is one of the four principal cities of Flanders mentioned by Dante, whose italianized name «Lilla» is attested in the series at Purgatorio XX 46 alongside Douai, Ghent, and Bruges.
LuniReal22Luni is cited in the Terrestrial Paradise, alongside Orbisaglia, as an example of places once powerful and celebrated, later fallen into decay until they disappeared.
MidianReal11Midian is the territory of the biblical people of the Midianites, cited in Purgatorio as an example of gluttony punished on the sixth terrace of Dante's Purgatory.
MagraReal33River that marks the western boundary of the Mediterranean Sea according to the periphrasis in Paradiso IX, mentioned together with the Ebro.
MallorcaReal11Majorca is mentioned by Dante in Inferno XXVIII as the westernmost point of the Mediterranean, alongside Cyprus, in a periphrasis that embraces the entire sea.
MantuaReal22Mantua is the birthplace of Virgil, recalled by him himself in the Inferno as his place of origin and indicated by the notes as the home of the Latin poet whom Dante recognizes as his guide.
Mercabò CastleReal11Marcabò is mentioned by a damned soul in the eighth ditch as the geographical extreme toward which, according to him, the terrain slopes between Vercelli and that point (Inf. XXVIII, 75).
MaremmaReal33Region of central Italy cited in the Commedia: in Inferno XXIX as a land of diseases and in Purgatorio V as the place where Pia dei Tolomei, a Sienese woman, died.
MoroccoReal11Morocco, in the ancient form «Morrocco», is mentioned by Dante as the extreme western edge of the inhabited lands, identifiable with Gades (Cadiz) and linked to Ptolemaic geography.
Red SeaReal11The Red Sea is mentioned in Inferno XXIV 90 within a simile that compares the appearance of the serpents in the seventh ditch to the most terrible desert regions.
MarseilleReal11Marseille is the birthplace of the troubadour Folchetto, mentioned in cantos IX and XVIII of Purgatorio for the slaughter carried out by Brutus in its harbor and for the siege that stung its inhabitants.
MilanReal11Milan is mentioned in Purgatorio as a city that still mourns a recent grief linked to the affairs of Corrado da Palazzo.
MincioReal11A river in northern Italy that rises from Lake Garda, cited by Dante in Inferno XX in relation to his Mantua and the legend of Manto.
MiraReal22Mira is a place in Purgatory cited by Dante as a directional reference in Canto V, when Buonagiunta indicates flight toward it.
ModenaReal11Modena is recalled by Dante in the Paradiso as the theater of the defeat of Mark Antony by Octavian Augustus, an event that links it to the grief of Perugia.
MonteapertiReal11Montaperti is recalled by Dante as the site of a famous battle between Guelphs and Ghibellines; the name appears in the Commedia with reference to events and figures from the thirteenth-century Florentine and Tuscan past.
House of MontefeltroReal11The Montefeltro is the region of origin of Buonconte, who appears in Purgatory as a spirit awaiting salvation and recounts his end in battle.
MontemaloReal11Montemalo is the name Dante uses to indicate the Monte Mario near Rome, from which the city appeared to the traveler coming via the Via Cassia, just as Florence was seen from Monte Uccellatoio coming from Bologna.
MontemurloReal11Castle near Pistoia, once an imperial fief of the Conti Guidi, ceded in 1254 to the Commune of Florence, mentioned by Cacciaguida in Paradiso XVI.
NaplesReal11Naples is remembered as the city that holds the remains of Virgil, transported from Brindisi after the poet's death in 19 B.C.
NavarreReal22Medieval kingdom of the Pyrenees, recalled by Dante in connection with the dynasty of Henry I and his daughter Joan, wife of Philip the Fair of France.
NazarethReal11Nazareth is mentioned in the Paradiso in relation to the childhood of Christ and to the place where his fellow townspeople ought to have recognized him.
NileReal33The Nile is the Egyptian river that in the Commedia indicates Egypt, where Pompey took refuge after his defeat at Pharsalus.
Nocera and GualdoReal11Nocera and Gualdo are two Umbrian castles recalled by Dante as wretched cities subjected to a heavy yoke, in the ranks of the blessed in Paradise XI.