When the character of Dante enters the heavenly sphere, in Paradiso, he arrives in that constellation, “pregnant with holy power which is the source / of all of whatever genius may be mine.” It was in the company of these stars that “I drew my first breath of Tuscan air” (Canto 22, lines 112–117, tr. So he was born in 1265, as Boccaccio, in the first biography of Dante, confirms.Īnd we know that Dante was a Gemini. I say it’s today.ĭante’s journey to the underworld, and overworld, took place during Easter week of the year 1300, when he was “midway on his life’s journey”: halfway to the Biblical seventy, or thirty-five years old.

(His lovely, nonhammy recital of Canto I of Inferno is online, along with many other clips.) Well, let church and state proceed with caution. That same day, Roberto Benigni read from The Divine Comedy on the floor of the Italian Senate, a reading broadcast to the nation. For his sesquiquincentenary (that’s 750th) in 2015, the Vatican played it safe by starting its celebrations on May 4, with Pope Francis expressing his hope that Dante and his work will accompany us during this year on our dark way. The exact date of Dante Alighieri’s birth is, authorities say, unknown.

Gemini birthday horoscope for may 27