Places

Places of the Divine Comedy

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

LuogoTipologiaMenzioniVersi collegatiDescrizione
NoliReal11Noli is cited by Dante in Purgatorio (IV 25) as an example of a mountainous place that is difficult to access, compared to San Leo, from which one descends by a steep path.
NormandyReal11Normandy is recalled by Dante in the Purgatorio (XX 66) as one of the English fiefs taken by force from the house of France under Philip IV.
NorwayReal11Realm mentioned in Paradiso XIX among the European kingdoms whose sovereigns are rebuked by Dante for having dishonored their own lineage.
Memorial to Francesco NoriReal11Nostra Donna is the name by which Dante designates the Adriatic shore, that is, the beach of Ancona, where the Virgin is venerated as patron and protector of the port.
OsterlicchiReal11Osterlicchi is the form Dante uses to indicate Austria in the simile of the frozen lake of Cocytus, where the cold is so intense that the Danube in winter freezes to the point of allowing armies with horses and carts to pass over it.
PachinoReal11Pachino is a cape in Sicily cited by Dante in the Paradiso as the southernmost extremity of the island, opposite Peloro, on the gulf battered by the Scirocco.
PaduaReal11Padua is the city of Antenor, recalled in Paradiso IX by Cunizza da Romano in a prophecy against the forces hostile to Cangrande della Scala.
PalermoReal11Palermo is mentioned by Dante in the Paradiso as the city where, on 30 March 1282, the uprising of the Vespers broke out against Angevin rule, with the cry «Mora, mora!» directed at the French.
Mount ParnassusReal55Parnassus is a mountain in Boeotia sacred to Apollo and the Muses, whose summit – also called Cirra – is invoked by Dante as a source of poetic inspiration and as a peak inhabited by the god.
PeloreusReal22Peloro is the classical name for a cape of Sicily cited by Dante as the promontory that delimits the island, identified today with Capo Faro.
PenestrinoReal11Penestrino is mentioned by Guido da Montefeltro in Inferno XXVII, in the comparison with Boniface VIII: just as Penestrino throws something to the ground, so Boniface struck Guido down with his words.
PerugiaReal22Perugia is recalled by Dante as a city marked by the events of the civil war between Octavian and Antony (Par. VI, 75) and as a center from which political dominion over other Umbrian cities depends (Par. XI, 46).
fish pondReal11Peschiera: a fortified barrier that holds back the waters of Benaco between Garda and Val Camonica, where the river Mincio is born.
PiaveReal01The Piave is a river of northern Italy cited by Dante in the Paradiso, recalled by Cunizza as the geographical boundary of her native land, between Rialto and the springs of the Brenta.
PietrapanaReal11Pietrapana is the name Dante uses to designate the Pania, the peak of the Apuan Alps, evoked in the Inferno as a hyperbolic measure against the hardness of the ice of Cocytus.
PisaReal22Pisa is the Tuscan city apostrophized by Dante in the Inferno (XXXIII 79) as «vituperio de le genti», in a passage of the canto of Ugolino.
PistoiaReal33Pistoia is recalled by Vanni Fucci as the «worthy den» in which he took refuge, in Inferno XXIV.
poloniumReal11The river Po is mentioned in Inferno XX as the point where the Mincio (Governolo) flows into it, marking the plain near Mantua.
meadowReal11Prato as a hellish topographic term cited by Ulysses at Inferno XXVI, 9, referring to a place of waiting and desire beyond the sea.
PratomagnoReal11Pratomagno is a mountain ridge between the upper Valdarno and the Casentino, mentioned by Dante in Purgatorio V in connection with the demon's race.
RavennaReal22Ravenna is cited in the Commedia as a city near the sea in the Middle Ages, homeland of Francesca da Polenta, and is recalled in Inferno XXVII.
RialtoReal11In Paradiso IX (v. 26) Dante mentions Rialto as a geographical reference point to indicate the homeland of a blessed soul, situated in the part of Italy marked by corruption.
RhôneReal33The Rhône is the French river recalled by Charles Martel in the Heaven of Venus as the boundary of Provence, the land of his future Angevin domain.
RomeReal1818Rome is recalled by Virgil as the city in which he lived during the reign of Augustus, thus defining his historical identity as a poet born in Mantua.