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Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”

Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”
Ravenna: everyone says “I love Dante”

This article is published in Vanity Fair issue 30-31 on newsstands until August 3, 2021

A Dante holding the sign “I’m hungry” while looking imploringly florid putti signed “Ammazzon” and “Nique”. Another who is about to receive a dose of the vaccine from men in anti-Covid suits. Finally, one arrested by the police.

These are just three of the latest murals dedicated to Supreme Poet appeared on the walls of Ravenna and which are added to “classics” such as the face created by the Brazilian artist Cobra that towers over the wall of a school in via Pasolini, already a must for tourists and citizens. On the 700th anniversary of his death, Dante is alive more than ever in the Romagna lands that welcomed and cared for him, from 1302 onwards, during his exile from his native Florence to escape the death sentence for “baratteria” (today we would say ” corruption”).

For this reason we have decided to retrace the places visited by the poet who, for the occasion, launch numerous initiatives, including the itinerary “Le Vie di Dante” included by Lonely Planet among its Best in Travel 2021 as the best “cultural journey “.

GOING WITH DONKEYS TO ENCHANTED VILLAGES

Dante Alighieri was also a great traveler: not only was he the first to personally make a journey into the afterlife, but for twenty years he wandered between Tuscany and Romagna as a guest of the most illustrious men of the time.

The first stage takes us, shortly after the Apennine pass, to Brisighella, an enchanting village famous for its oil and medieval festivals dominated by three chalky spurs, the Sanctuary of Monticino, the Rocca Manfrediana and the Clock tower. Particularly fascinating is the Via del Borgo, which here they call «the way of the donkeys», one of the very first elevated streets: in the fourteenth century, what was once a patrol walkway was covered with arcades and incorporated into the houses. The “donkeys” were those who pulled the rogues carrying the plaster towards Florence or Faenza.

Just a kilometer away is the Pieve del Tho, the oldest in the valley (it dates from the 10th century), a gem that hides masterpieces such as a Roman-era game table and an 8th-century altar frontal. Twenty minutes by car and you arrive at the Torre di Oriolo which dominates an area planted with vines and fruit trees which, recently, has created original proposals such as Trat-Tour, an agricultural tractor that takes visitors around vineyards and cellars, and the suggestive Lucciolata (torredioriolo.it). The Tower is also linked to a
character of the Divine Comedy (33 ° canto of Hell), a certain friar Alberigo who, for a slap suffered, during a banquet unleashed a massacre in full Game of Thrones style: some assassins disguised as waiters, having heard the password “Fruits come,” they pulled out their knives and made a slaughter. For those who are in the area and want to eat in complete safety with dishes inspired by the famous recipe book of the Romagna Pellegrino Artusi, the ideal place is The Sabbiona, a farmhouse that is also a winery attentive to the preservation of ancient native vineyards including Centesimino.

Photo: BRUNO ZANZOTTERA

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