Italy is very proud of Dante degli Alghieri – although we tend to refer to him simply as Dante His poem written in the early fourteenth century is sometimes referred to as Dante's Inferno. In truth, the name of the epic poem is The Divine Comedy. It describes the author's journey through the afterlife. Who was Dante and how much do we actually know about him? You'll be able to sound like an expert after reading these unusual facts about the poet.
1. He had a wife and four kids
A lot of Dante's work is devoted to Beatrice, a woman he met when she was only nine years old and who died young, sending the poet into deep grief. He wrote love sonnets dedicated to her and in the Divine Comedy, it is Beatrice (in the form of an angel) who guides him through to Paradise. Although it sounds romantic, Dante had a wife and four kids back home. His family wasn't too pleased to receive no mention at all in his famous epic. Dante married Gemma Donati after being betrothed to her at the age of 12. They had four children together: Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia, who later became a nun, coincidentally adopting the name Sister Beatrice.
