Bagni di Lucca and Beyond

Dante’s Tomb

 Dante Alighieri was, among other things, the father of the Italian language.  I have been known to curse him on occasion for some of its complexities.  Much of Dante’s Divine Comedy was written in Ravenna where he came to live  following his exile from Florence in 1302.  He stayed in Ravenna until his death in 1321.  Florence still supplies the oil for the lamp that burns in his tomb as an act of penance for having exiled him.

His remains were laid in a sarcophagus and placed in the church cemetry beside the wall of the Franciscan Monastry.  When, in 1519 the Florentines claimed back the remains, the Franciscans removed the bones from the tomb and hid them.  In 1780 Cardinal Gonzaga removed the empty tomb and had a memorial chapel built in its place.  Dante’s remains were found in 1865 and were brought back to their former site.

the memorial to Dante

image of Dante in the memorial

Cardinal Gonzaga”s armorial bearings

a huge sarcophagus in the area of the tomb

the little garden at Dante’s tomb

The tomb and monument are beside the San Francesco and there is no charge to visit the area.