Durante degli Alighieri, or simply Dante, was an Italian poet from Florence whose most famous work, the Commedia (The Divine Comedy), is considered by many to be the greatest literary work composed Italian and is a cornerstone of almost every literary canon.
Alighieri was born in 1265 in the Italian city state of Florence into a prominent family. Little is known about his education, although it can be assumed by his family’s high station that he received an exemplary education. It is known he studied with Dominicans and became involved in the debate between Franciscans and Dominicans.
At the age of nine, Dante recalls he met Beatrice Portinari and immediately fell in love with her. Although he would know her until he was 18 his love remained silent and “courtly,” although she would become a character in the Divine Comedy. At 12, Dante was betrothed to Gemma and married, a marriage that would bear children although Gemma does not feature in any poems.
Like most wealthy Florentines at the time, Dante he became embroiled in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict when he came of age. Dante fought in the battle of Campaldino in 1289 alongside Florentine Guelph knights against the Arezzo Ghibellines.
After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs themselves dissolved into two factions: the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs who fought over opposing views on the role the papacy in Florentine affairs, with the Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome's control. Initially the Whites, Dante’s faction, won and kicked out the Blacks.
Dante was eager for public life. In Florence those with political aspirations were required to join a profession and Dante studied to become a doctor and a pharmacist. A law issued in 1295 also required that nobles who wanted to assume public office had to be enrolled in one of the city’s arts guilds, so Dante joined the apothecaries' guild primarily because apothecaries were also book sellers
Dante held various offices over a number of years although he was not a politician of note. As a member of the White Guelphs Dante was sent to Rome as part of delegation to ascertain the Pope’s intentions toward Florence but, while on the mission, Florence was invaded and sacked by a coalition of Black Guelphs and Charles de Valois.
A new government of Black Guelphs, sentenced Dante to exile for two years and demanded he pay a large fine. Dante refused and was condemned to perpetual exile and death if he ever returned.
The Whites attempted many time to regroup and retake Florence but failed each time. Dante was involved in a number of these efforts but eventually left the Whites disillusioned. Exiled in Rome, Dante began to write the Divine Comedy.
Dante then began years of wandering Italy staying with friends. He spent time in Verona, Sarzana, Lucca and perhaps Paris between 1308 and 1310.
In 1310 Henry VII of Luxembourg, King of the Romans marched into Italy and Dante exhorted him to re-take Florence and destroy the Black Guelphs. The city was taken by Henry and the Blacks removed. Most Whites were pardoned and invited back, but because of his vicious letters to Henry, Dante was not.
Dante retired to Verona and continued work on the first two books of the Divine Comedy. The concept and pain of exile is a recurrent theme in the poem. Many attempts were made to get Dante to return to Florence but all required him to admit to wrongdoing and pay the original fine. Dante refused and eventually the Florentine authorities exiled Dante and his descendents for life.
Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited Dante to Ravenna in 1318, and he accepted. There he finished the third part of the Comedy, Paradiso, but died in 1321 probably from malaria. Dante was buried in Ravenna
Ironically, Florence eventually regretted Dante's exile, and demanded the return of his remains. In 1829, a tomb was built in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce to receive his bones. But that tomb remains empty with Dante's body still remaining in Ravenna.

The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is the few works that would appear in any literary canon. It is divided into three sections and each is divided into 33 cantos.
The term Comedy is deceptive. In the classical sense, a comedy is a poem or play that deals with vulgar subjects, are often written in local dialects and usually with a happy ending.
Like Chaucer in England and Boccaccio also in Italy, writers were beginning to eschew Latin in order to write in local languages.  Dante wrote the Comedy in what he called Italian, a language based on the local dialects of Tuscany and Sicily.  In doing so he demonstrated the ability of the language to be lyrical, poetic and able to convey complex religious and philosophical ideas. 
The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman epic poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the young woman Dante had fallen on love with as a youth.
Inferno is perhaps the most famous section and its vivid and harrowing imagery has remained influential and most accessible for modern readers. The second two sections deal with weightier theological matters and are more demanding.
Virgil guides Dante through the nine circles of Hell, each new circle representing further and further evil, culminating in the center of the earth, where Lucifer. Within each circle, Dante meets sinners who are punished in a fashion fitting their crime. Many of the sinners are people in Dante’s life.

Having escaped the depravations of Hell, Dante then climbs the seven terraces of Purgatory, levels that correspond to the seven deadly sins.  He is led by Virgil, Cato and Beatrice. Finally, Beatrice takes Dante into the nice spheres of paradise or Heaven finally meeting Jesus and Mary and the angels and concluding his joujourney by meeting God.