On Sunday 12th September, Ravenna will commemorate the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. It sees the culmination of celebrations launched a year ago by the President Sergio Mattarella, who symbolically reopened the doors of Dante’s tomb in Ravenna at the end of the restoration.
However, it is also the prelude to many other opportunities for study and dissemination of the Supreme Poet.
The event will begin with the homage of dozens of mayors of Italy. They will parade in the city with their banners, many of which are mentioned by Dante in the Comedy.
Performances and Mass
Performances curated by Ravenna Teatro, the offer of oil to the tomb and various other events. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi will celebrate Dante’s Mass.
Maestro Riccardo Muti directs a concert for Dante in the evening, created in collaboration with Ravenna Festival. Performances follow in subsequent days in Florence and Verona. There is also free live streaming on ITsART Arte e Cultura.
Readings from the Divine Comedy
In Piazza San Francesco, there will be readings from the Divine Comedy by Ermanna Montanari and Marco Martinelli, founders of the Teatro delle Able. The actor and director Lino Guanciale, will also read the XXVI canto of Hell. Sandro Lombardi, actor and writer, will engage with the V canto of the Purgatory.
Ermanna Montanari will read canto XXXIII of Paradise, which will precede the Prolusion to the Annual by Cardinal Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture and scholar of Dante Theologian.
