Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said
on 'DanteDì' (Dante Day) Tuesday that Italy's Supreme Poet had
been the first great pro-European.
The Italian diplomatic consular network is paying homage to the
genius of the most famous Italian poet of all time, the foreign
ministry said, citing many initiatives dedicated to Dante
organized for the occasion by embassies and cultural institutes
abroad, from Canberra to Beijing.
Tajani, who is also deputy premier, after having underlined that
Dante was "the first great pro-European", highlighted how the
famed phrase of Ulysses in the Inferno exhorting his men to
follow him on a last heroic voyage in their old age, "you were
not made to live like brutes but to follow virtue and
knowledge", is "at the foundation of our civilization."
Born in Florence in 1265, the poet, moral philosopher and
political thinker best known for his 'Divine Comedy' is one of
Italy's best-loved cultural figures abroad.
The annual day celebrating Italy's greatest poet was established
formally by then culture minister Dario Franceschini in 2020.
The president of the Casa Dante museum in Florence, Cristina
Manetti, also highlighted how the father of the Italian language
had looked to a culture capable of overcoming borders.
"I think it is beautiful and useful, especially in these days in
which too many are questioning Europe, to remember that among
the spiritual fathers of Europe there are not only Altiero
Spinelli and the others from (the island of) Ventotene, but also
Dante Alighieri himself, in whom we can already find an idea of
;;Europe and a common European thought," she said. "Saying this
is not a stretch, it is recognizing the vision of an
extraordinary genius who - we see it in De Monarchia - looked to
a single government of the continent and above all to a culture
brought back to unity, capable of overcoming the borders and
particular interests of kingdoms and peoples in the name of a
universal aspiration.
"Remembering this on Dantedì, not limiting ourselves to
considering Dante only the father of the Italian language, must
be a source of pride for us Italians.
"And considering the deep roots of Europe - in another century
we also find Goethe who connects this idea to the pilgrims'
paths - is a way to remove it from the exploitation of our
days," she said referring to a row on Spinelli's Ventotene
Manifesto on European federalism between Premier Giorgia Meloni
and the opposition.
photo: Dante's tomb in Ravenna
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