Mantua Celebrates Dante with Major Exhibition at Palazzo Ducale

Mantua, one of three cities where Dante's Divine Comedy was first printed in 1472, marks the 700th anniversary of the poet's death with a major exhibition at Palazzo Ducale. Titled 'Dante e la cultura del Trecento a Mantova,' the show runs from October 16, 2021, to January 9, 2022. It gathers 14th-century cultural artifacts in dialogue with Dantean references, exploring the deep bond between Dante and Mantua through Virgil, the Latin poet who guides Dante through Inferno and Purgatory. The exhibition also serves as an occasion to redesign the rooms of the Appartamento di Guastalla in Corte Vecchia, enriching existing works with loans from Italian and international collections. Stefano L'Occaso, Director of Palazzo Ducale, states that the relationship between Dante and Mantua, inseparable due to Virgil's origins, will be investigated through this unprecedented overview of 14th-century art in Mantua. Among the works on display are Dante's portrait in a lunette of the Galleria degli Specchi, attributed to the workshop of Antonio Maria Viani, and a plaster cast from 1921 taken from the bas-relief of his tomb in Ravenna.