Dante’s Tomb in Santa Croce

Unveiled on March 24, 1830, this cenotaph (tomb for someone not buried in it) was erected explicitly for the “pilgrim who goes seeking a monument of the Divine Poet in his native land” (as the Gazzetta di Firenze newspaper noted at the time). When the commission to have it built was launched in 1818, they had already chosen their artist: Stefano Ricci (1765-1837), a conservative neoclassical sculptor who taught at the Accademia and whose work has been described as cold and formalistic.

The unveiling ceremony was similarly formalistic: the archbishop presided over a requiem mass, with music written for the occasion, and pamphlets were handed out containing elegiac verses crafted in Dante’s honor. Witnesses said there was a constant flood of visitors throughout the morning who filed by, wishing to pay their respects.

Dante is portrayed here as a relatively young man (he died at 56) with sharp features and muscles, which are supposed to represent the ‘lean years’ of writing the Comedy (cf. Par. 25.3). He wears a laurel wreath and holds his masterpiece in his lap. Behind him are the lyre and horn (poetry with something to say). Before him are two allegorical figures: to our left the personification of Italy and to our right the muse Calliope who mourns the loss of a great epic poet. Like the statue outside Santa Croce, the cenotaph means to portray Dante as a forceful proponent of a strong, united Italy.

On the plinth beneath the seated poet is the phrase “Onorate l’altissimo poeta” (“Honor the revered poet”), which is a quotation from the canto of Limbo in Inferno (4.80). This hendecasyllabic verse is the first of two that are solemnly announced by the noble souls: “Onorate l’altissimo poeta: / l’ombra sua torna, ch’era dipartita” (“Honor the revered poet, for his soul left us but is now returning”). These lines were written about Virgil who left Limbo just for a moment to rescue Dante in the dark wood but they work quite well here too.

Florence has continuously requested the delivery of Dante’s remains, but Ravenna has never relinquished them. In 1396, 1429 and 1519, Florentines officially renewed their plea. In this last case, Pope Leo X (born Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici) served as mediator.

It was to him that Michelangelo wrote, seeking to sweeten the deal by offering to create Dante’s tomb: “I, Michelangelo the sculptor, one and the same, offer myself to the Divine Poet and beseech Your Holiness to allow me to create a sepulcher worthy of him to be placed in an honorable location in this city.”

It’s a shame that no such sculpture was ever realized.