Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–1321) was a Florentine Italian poet and writer whose work helped shape Italian literature. He is best known for the epic poem *The Divine Comedy* (*La Divina Commedia*), a visionary journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise that became a cornerstone of Western writing. Dante also wrote *La Vita Nuova*, combining poetry and prose, and the treatise *De Monarchia*. Active in Florentine politics, he was exiled from the city in 1302 and spent the rest of his life in various Italian courts. He died in Ravenna in 1321.