AIFS in Florence, Italy

A WALK IN MEDIEVAL FLORENCE THROUGH DANTE’S EYES

On March 17, 2010, Megan Clary, Siobhan Franco and Alyssa Tulipano, three students from Richmond University in Florence, offered a free guided tour of medieval Florence at the time of Dante. The tour was open to the community of tourists and locals and advertised in the “The Florentine” newspaper and in the online www.florencenewspaper.it. Flyers were also distributed at the British Library and the Paperback Exchange bookstore. This event was part of the project carried on by the Richmond program in Florence to strengthen ties between its students and the city of Florence. Instead of a passive acquisition of a literary knowledge of the city, students became actively involved by sharing with interested people what they had learnt in class and personally researched. The event was very well received and quite a few tourists, foreigners living in Florence, and students, asked to participate. It ended up with eight English-speaking guests coming from different backgrounds.

Although supervised by Professor Debora Chellini teaching the course Dante in Translation, the tour was entirely designed and conducted by the students. The focus was on the ambiguous relationship between Dante and his town and started with the famous sentence found on Dante’s tomb in Ravenna: "Here I am enclosed, Dante, exiled from my native country, whom Florence bore, the mother that little did love me." The students referred to the Poet’s masterwork, by selecting and pointing out some Dante Plaques collected in Foresto Niccolai’s The Dante Plaques (transl. Mark Roberts), inscriptions placed in streets and squares by the City of Florence in 1900 to record the allusions to real places that Dante made in the Divine Comedy.

The first stop was on the Ponte Vecchio, where our guides described the importance of such landmark and discussed the two Dante plaques referring to Buondelmonte’s murder “at the crossing of the Arno” (Inf. XIII, 146). Then they led us to Piazza Signoria, where they discussed the Medieval political conflicts between Florentine middle-class families and explained the words spoken by Farinata, a member of the noble family of the Uberti, leader of the Florentine Ghibellines, “It was the only one, when it was agreed To carry out the plan of destroying Florence, To stand up openly in her defence” (Inf. X, 91-93) on the plaque in the first courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio.

After introducing us to the episode of Cavalcante Cavalcanti, Guido Cavalcanti’s father “If through this blind prison You go because of your exalted abilities, Where is my son? Why is he not with you?” (Inf. X, 58-63 – a plaque in Via Calzaioli where the houses of the Cavalcanti used to stand), they led us to Dante’s house where he is supposed to have been born. “I was born, and grew up, On the lovely river Arno, in the great city,” (Inf. XXIII, 94-95) the Poet wrote; and these are the words we read on the plaque placed on the wall of what remains of his original house. These verses are full of tenderness felt by the exiled Poet for his beloved city. The same feeling is expressed by Dante in the words he uses to refer to the Baptistery: “in my beautiful San Giovanni” (Inf. XIX, 17); these words too speak of the nostalgic longing of the exile for the ancient temple sacred to Florence’s patron Saint, where he himself was christened.

At the base of the Baptistery, opposite Giotto’s Bell Tower, our guides showed us two plaques both referring to the theme of Dante’s exile. In the last one “If it ever happens that the sacred poem To which both heaven and earth have set their hands, So that it has made me thin for many years, Should overcome the cruelty which shuts me out From that lovely fold where I slept, a lamb, The enemy of wolves who ware against it; With a different voice now, and with different fleece, O shall come back poet; and at the font Of my baptism I shall put on my wreath” (Par. XXV, 1-9) Dante the pilgrim is almost at the end of his journey and the opening lines of Canto XXV begin with a touching picture of Dante’s earthly hopes of recall from exile, never to be realised. The Poet is conscious of having written a poem that is ‘sacred’ in its inspiration, its subject, its vision both human and divine; of being a poet of high and noble themes, worthy of being crowned as such in his ‘bel San Giovanni’.

The tour ended in Piazza Duomo and those who took part congratulated with the young guides, and did not forget to ask interesting questions. The guests made excellent comments on the activity. Ms Famiglietti found it very insightful, Alex loved the debates and questions and answers between students, the guests and the teacher. Ms Skeaping noticed that “the tour brought to life Dante’s work” and she hopes in more in the future. Liz was struck by the enthusiasm of both the students and the instructor and Erica said that it forced her to take a closer look at the city. They all pointed out it was a great tour, “very engaging”, “very informative in an informal atmosphere” and the only complaint was that it was difficult to hear because of the noise of traffic and the many tourists. A couple of people suggested that some background on Dante was given before starting the tour and “do it more often !” was more than an encouragement.

Richmond in Florence

Richmond Florence Internship Program