Ravenna, here is the new Dante Museum: renovated museum that tells the story of the Supreme Poet

In Ravenna, on the seventh centenary of the death of Dante Alighieri (Florence, 1265 - Ravenna, 1321), the new Dante Museum opens on Sunday, May 16, 2021, with the aim of consolidating the enhancement of the figure of Dante with a contemporary layout that uses new languages to bring Dante’s Comedy and legacy to the public. The Dante Museum is located at Via Alighieri 2/A, a few steps from Dante’s tomb. Nine halls (the time hall, the face hall, the Montevideo hall, the two worship halls, the fame hall and the three Divine Comedy halls), totaling 375 square meters, will welcome visitors: within the itinerary it will be possible to find historical objects, more than 400 images and 250 texts.

The Museum presents both the possibility of delving into Dante’s imaginary world with the power of sensory experience and the opportunity to observe the historical objects that since September 11, 1921 (when the Museum, then the “Museo Dantesco,” was inaugurated on the occasion of the celebrations of the sixth centenary of Dante’s death) have offered evidence of an event that binds characters and literary masterpieces together. The museum was conceived by architect Ambrogio Annoni (then Superintendent of Ravenna) and Corrado Ricci, a learned Dante scholar and founder of the Ravenna Superintendency.

The Dante Museum is part of a new reading of the Dante area, which, with the recent restoration of the tomb, the future “Casa Dante” and other interventions, is configured as a central part of an overall operation of valorization and innovation as part of the celebrations of the seventh centenary, designed in agreement with the Region, the MiC, the other cities of Dante and the many national and international cultural institutions that promote study, research and dissemination activities.

Preliminary to the rethinking of the existing Museo Dantesco was the design of a management system that would systematize the different skills and vocations connected to the place. In fact, the building is owned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, and its interior houses the Library and the Dante Center of the Franciscan Friars Minor. With the agreement governing the refurbishment and the definition of the management model of the new museum, institutional sharing between the ownership of the monumental complex, the Dante Center and the Municipality of Ravenna has been sanctioned. Thus, the historical management divided by competence was overcome through an arrangement that, inspired by modern museum techniques, restores the plurality and universality of Dante’s work and at the same time the profound relationship between the city and its poet.

Moreover, the conservative restoration of the wrought-iron gate giving access to the Braccioforte quadrangle, next to Dante’s tomb, created by the Venetian Umberto Bellotto on the occasion of Dante’s celebrations in 1921, is currently underway. The intervention aims to highlight the value of the artifact from the last century. The restoration is divided into two phases: a preliminary phase of study, research and sampling that has been completed, while in the coming weeks, starting May 17, the second part of the intervention will begin, during which the public will still be able to access the Quadrarco.

“In these dramatic months,” says Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia Romagna region, “few sectors have suffered the consequences of the pandemic like the world of culture. But there is no better restart than celebrating Dante Alighieri, the most important poet in the history of our country and the father of our language. This opening enriches the exhibition itineraries inaugurated a few days ago in Ravenna and Forlì and confirms Emilia-Romagna as Dante’s second homeland. In Forlì he stayed and in Ravenna, a city to which his name will forever be linked, rest his remains. I want to thank the organizers, the Administration, and all those who have contributed to the creation of an innovative and contemporary museum itinerary that breathes new life into Dante’s message and is able to appeal to multiple generations. The celebrations for the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death project Emilia-Romagna and all of Italy into an international dimension and represent an extraordinary opportunity to promote our territory and to restart cultural tourism, in which we intend to continue to invest with conviction. Tourism and culture, in fact, remain essential axes for the social and economic development of our communities: they are living a difficult time and it is our commitment to remain close to them.”

“The Dante Museum was first inaugurated in 1921 and marked the celebrations of the VI centenary of Dante’s death,” recalls Michele de Pascale, mayor of Ravenna. “Thanks to invaluable teamwork involving the municipal administration, the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, owner of the Cloisters, and the Dante Center of the Friars Minor Conventual of Ravenna, one hundred years after its inauguration, the Dante Museum is being completely reorganized. The visit to the Tomb will become one with the visit to the museum, which will also have a strong didactic function and thus serve the schools, both in Ravenna and throughout Italy, for the study, in-depth study and knowledge of the Poet’s work and the Comedy. The Dante Museum is part of a process of overall enhancement of the Dante area, which will become a key cultural and tourist attraction for the growth and development of our city.”

“For the Fondazione della Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna,” stresses Ernesto Giuseppe Alfieri, president of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, “it is a great satisfaction to be able to participate with its Antichi Chiostri Francescani in the celebrations of the seventh centenary of Dante’s death. The Cloisters represent, in fact, the centerpiece of the initiatives at these celebrations; in particular, the restoration of the Dante Museum with its new multimedia set-up is able to enhance the complexity and universality of Dante’s work and at the same time emphasize the profound relationship between our city and the Poet. In particular, the use of the most modern museum techniques gives a new vitality to the Museum, making it more easily accessible to new generations as well.”

“The Centro Dantesco has been working at Dante’s Tomb since 1965 to make known the thought and poetry of the Supreme Poet,” says Father Ivo Laurentini, director of the Dante Center of the Friars Minor Conventual. “It is, therefore, happy that it was possible to arrive at the realization of the Museum in a multimedia form, in step with the times and taking advantage of today’s technology capable of bringing the visitor into contact with the environment and the time in which Dante was born and lived. Upon entering the Museum, after contemplating the story of his bones and his fortune, it almost feels like accompanying Dante and Virgil and then Beatrice along their journey from the dark forest to the light. This is certainly a great opportunity for all who come to visit the ’Dantis poetae sepulcrum’.”

The Dante Museum will open Sunday, May 16, with continuous hours from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Opening hours: April 1 to Oct. 31 Tuesday-Sunday and holidays (closed Mondays and Dec. 25) from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Nov. 1 to March 31 Tuesday-Sunday and holidays (closed Mondays) from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (Jan. 1 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.). Tickets: full 3 euros, reduced 2 euros. Information is available at www.vivadante.it.

Ravenna, here is the new Dante Museum: renovated museum that tells the story of the Supreme Poet

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