Dante House Museum
In Florence, the building where the Supreme Poet is said to have been born
In the heart of medieval Florence, the Alighieri houses stood between the Church of San Martino and Piazza dei Donati in the 1300s, traces of which remain in some documents of the time.
In the early twentieth century, following research and studies, the City of Florence had the house built on the spot where tradition claims that Dante was born. Here you can still visit the Dante House Museum, which extends across three floors that showcase key times in the life of the Supreme Poet.
On the first floor some aspects are documented about Florence at that time, in addition to Dante’s childhood, his baptism in "my beautiful San Giovanni" (the Baptistery of Santa Maria del Fiore), his public life, appointment as city prior and involvement in political and military clashes – the model of the Battle of Campaldino and armoury reproductions are interesting to observe.
The second floor concentrates on the poet’s painful exile from Florence, which began in 1301 when the sentence was handed down. Following many pilgrimages (to Forlì, Verona and Bologna), the poet spent his final years in Ravenna until his death in 1321, while staying with Guido da Polenta.
On the third floor, we find a description of Dante’s iconography and legacy down the centuries, depicted in outstanding reproductions of famous works of art produced from the 1300s to the present day by artists of the caliber of Giotto, Beato Angelico, Andrea del Castagno, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Raphael and Michelangelo.
Accessibility information: feelflorence.it
