The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is one of the oldest and most famous works inthe Italian language. It was composed by Dante Alighieri, a poetborn in Firenze, in the early 14th century: over 14,200 verses, dividedinto three cantiche and a hundred cantos, to tell the poet's allegoricaltravels in the afterlife, through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

Dante had actually chosen the simple title of "Comedy" for his poem,to mean a story that begins badly - in the infernal depths inhabited bySatan and crowded with devils, tortures and sinners - and ends well,in the heavenly skies where you can enjoy the light of God and of theangels. The adjective "divine" was suggested by another great Italianauthor, Giovanni Boccaccio: it serves to suggest both the masterfulliterary quality and the topic covered by the work.

700 years after Dante Alighieri’s death, the Divine Comedy is stillone of the cornerstones of Italian literature and culture: it isstudied at school and its verses are in many cases so well known thatthey have become idioms. Over seven centuries, Dante's poem hasinfluenced works of all kinds, from novels to paintings, and it hasalso cast its charms on comic book authors.

As a matter of fact, in the last hundred years many Italian comicshave told Dante’s life or have been inspired by his most famouswork, the Comedy. Some are educational, designed to complementschool study in a fun way; others are humorous or satirical, makingfun of the Supreme Poet or using his images to laugh at contemporarysociety; still others are action comics or even horror comics, andthrow the protagonists into the horrors of Dante's Hell.For this exhibition we have selected twelve examples from differentgenres and times.

Comics on Display

The first of the comics included in theexhibition is La rovina in commedia(Ruin in Comedy) by Benito Jacovitti,one of the most important Italian comicartists. It is a satire on the aftermath ofWorld War II in Italy, published in themagazine Bel-ze-bù in 1947. Unfortunately, only two episodes cameout, and the print materials have beenlost.

The most famous comic is L’Infernodi Topolino (Mickey Mouse's Hell),released between 1949 and 1950. Theversion by Guido Martina and AngeloBioletto starring Mickey Mouse hasbeen constantly reprinted in Italy and ithas also been published in a Finnishversion.

The most complete, however, is LaDivina Commedia a fumetti (TheDivine Comedy in Comics Art) writtenand drawn by Marcello Toninelli,which shows all Dante's encounterswith the souls of the afterlife. It is awork that accompanied the cartoonistthroughout his life: a first version waspartially published in 1969 in themagazine Off-Side, then it wasredesigned for a single issue ofUndercomics (1972) and finallycompleted between the Eighties andNineties in other publications. Now it isavailable as a single volume byShockdom.

In 1975 also ser Temistio, advisor tothe Lord of the fictitious Renaissancestate of Colbrino, was sent to Hell byhis author Adriano Carnevali on thepages of Corriere dei Ragazzi, in thestory Temistio all'Inferno (TemistioGoes to Hell). His task? Finding Danteand hiring him it to advertise his town.Recently Carnevali has gone back tomaking fun of the Divine Comedy witha comic strip published in the magazineRelax Enigmistico.

Around the same time, Sandro Dossidrew Un viaggio insolito (An UnusualJourney), a short comic inspired by theComedy involving Geppo, a characterinvented by Giovan Battista Carpi in1950. Geppo is the only good devil inHell, which always gets him intotrouble. A second, longer Dante storyappeared in 1984 with the title ofGeppo - Inferno 2000.

Nathan Never is a science fictioncomic series published by SergioBonelli Editore, set in a city built onmany levels. The first, the lowest, iscompletely underground, devoid ofsunlight. It goes without saying that itis called Inferno, and that whenNathan goes there - in the 10th issue ofthe series, Inferno, March 1992 - theauthors Bepi Vigna and DanteBastianoni enrich the story withreferences to the Comedy.

Also in 1992 it is Cattivik, a humorousthief created by Bonvi and whose storieshave also been told by his pupil Silver andother authors, who ends up in Hell at thehands of Moreno Burattini and GiorgioSommacal in Un’avventura infernale (AHellish Adventure) - Cattivik 32, 1992.The two are also authors of Cattivik inPurgatorio (Cattivik in Purgatory) -Cattivik 54, 1994 - and Cattivik inParadiso (Cattivik in Paradise) - Cattivik40, 1993.

Between 1992 and 1993 Renzo Maggialso devoted himself to the subject.Commedia diabolica (DiabolicalComedy) is a political satire comic forchildren, but no less pungent, published bythe Catholic monthly Italia Missionaria.

No Name is a failed undead superherowho lives over the top adventures. In thelast one, Maciste contro tutti (MacisteAgainst Everyone) from 2004, authorsDavide Barzi and Oskar send him toHell, amidst homages to the work of theillustrator Gustave Doré and deliberatelyexaggerated fights.

Kleiner Flug is a publishing housespecializing in educational comic books.From their catalog we have chosen twobooks, both from 2015: Dante Alighieri -Amor mi mosse (Dante Alighieri – Thelove that moved me) by Alessio D'Uva,Filippo Rossi and Astrid Lucchesi, whichtells of Dante's love for Beatrice from herpoint of view, and Farinata degli Ubertiby Corso Tarantino, a biography inimages of one of the damned souls thepoet meets in Hell.

Moreno Burattini eventually returned tothe subject in 2016 in the Dampyr specialentitled La porta dell’Inferno (The Gateof Hell), Sergio Bonelli Editore. Througha medieval manuscript, the vampire hunterprotagonist of the series and hiscompanions end up in Dante's Inferno,which is definitely the most graphic in ourentire exhibit, thanks to the highly detaileddrawings by Fabrizio Longo.

L’Inferno di Topolino was published in Finnishin 2013 as the third issue of the Walt DisneyTheater series (Sanoma Magazines Finland) underthe title Mikki Hiiren Inferno. The series consistsof the aforementioned Walt Disney Theater storiesin which Donald, Mickey and other familiarDisney characters go on adventures based onlandmark literary works.

The translation of L’Inferno di Topolino is byVille Keynäs and Anu Partanen. Dante'sCommedia has been translated into Finnish twice:Eino Leino's translation was published in 1912–1914 and Elina Vaara's in 1963. There are a fewdirect quotes from the Commedia in Mikki’sInferno and they are from Eino Leino's translation.Keynäs and Partanen excelled in translating thecomic. The Finnish version is a wonderful translation ofthe original Italian original, which in turnhumorously follows Dante’s poetic language evenwhen it does not quote directly from the DivineComedy.Not only l’Inferno di Topolino has achieved awell-deserved classic status in Italy, but it has alsobeen translated into many other languages:English, Spanish, Greek, Norwegian, Portuguese,Swedish, and German.

Dante

Today Dante is considered one of the fathers of the Italianlanguage and one of the most relevant symbols for Italy in theworld. But during his life, especially in the years he devoted towriting the Comedy, he did not enjoy great honors. Born in Firenze in1265, into a family of by then decayed petty nobility, Dante Alighieristudied grammar and philosophy and from an early age he devotedhimself to both literature and political commitment.

He wrote sonnets (collected in Vita Nuova, a sort of autobiography inverse and prose) and held public positions, even of high importance,for the city of Firenze. But after a few years, Dante was accused byhis political opponents and then, in 1301, exiled from his hometown.In the same period, Dante began the composition of theCommedia and his own pilgrimage to the Italian courts. In thoseyears the Italian poet par excellence was "lost in a dark forest",spiritually and politically.

It is so easy to draw a recognizable Dante, just give him a largeRoman nose and a red hood, perhaps crown him with laurel leaves,indicating he is a poet. And so have done all the comic artists whohave tried their hand at the Comedy: Dante wears a proper costume,almost like that of superheroes, Donald Duck or Tex, which allowsreaders to identify him at first sight. Even when the protagonist is notthe real Dante but a Tuscan pensioner with a passion for poetry, as inCattivik version.Who knows if the real Dante would have liked these caricatures, or ifhe would have threatened the authors as it happens in the finale ofMickey's Hell...

The Dark Wood

Midway in the journey of our lifeI came to myself in a dark wood,

for the straight way was lost.

Ah, how hard it is to tellthe nature of that wood, savage, dense and harsh --

the very thought of it renews my fear!

It is so bitter death is hardly more so.But to set forth the good I found

I will recount the other things I saw.

Hell, first cantos, lines 1-9

The journey begins with the protagonist in the heat of the action: Dante is lostin a "dark wood". It is a scene seen in many fairy tales, novels, and horrorfilms: a forest so intricate and dark that it is not easy to find a way out. It isactually the only terrestrial landscape that appears in the Comedy: the darkforest, full of pitfalls and without well-defined paths, is the life of all sinnerson earth. There are even three lurking beasts. The sun can hardly cross thetrees - but it doesn't matter, because when Dante finds himself in the wood it isstill night. The poet then decides to climb a hill, where he hopes that the lightof dawn will reach him as soon as possible.

The most powerful image of the Dark Wood was created by the Frenchillustrator Gustave Doré in 1861: a tangle of branches and trunks, in front ofwhich a very worried Dante stops, turns to look at the road travelled and seemslost. It is such a strong image that cartoonists dealing with the Comedy couldnot ignore and that is found as an undercurrent in almost all the comic bookversions.

Only the humorists detach themselves from it, ironically placing it alongsidethe scary woods of fairytales, or, like Jacovitti, using it to satirize the politicalsituation of post-World War II Italy: a labyrinth where the citizen has threepaths in front of him – Communism, Capitalism and Imperialism - all three ofthem terrifying.

VirgilWhen I saw him in that vast desert,

'Have mercy on me, whatever you are,'I cried, 'whether shade or living man!'

He answered: 'Not a man, though once I was.

My parents were from Lombardy --Mantua was their homeland.

'I was born sub Julio, though late in his time,

and lived at Rome, under good Augustusin an age of false and lying gods.

'I was a poet and I sang

the just son of Anchises come from Troyafter proud Ilium was put to flame.

Hell, first cantos, lines 64-75

Virgil is Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory. Publius Vergilius Maro,who lived between 70 and 19 BC, is the Latin poet author of the Aeneid: in hispoem he masterfully recounted the escape of Aeneas from Troy and the foundingof Rome - and for this reason Dante considers him his master in the art ofpoetry. But Virgil, in the Comedy, is also considered a moral teacher, because hehad sensed the importance of a unitary empire and, consequently, of peace.Unfortunately Virgil lived before the coming of Jesus Christ, and was therefore apagan: for this reason he will not be able to accompany Dante to Paradise.

The Latin poet also plays a fundamental role in the versions of the Comedy incomics, especially in those of a more didactic slant, because, explaining to Dantehow Hell is made and the nature of sins and tortures, he also explains it to hisreaders. However, this does not protect him from being teased, treated in a funnyand light way like everything else; Toninelli never ever misses an opportunity toridicule him, making Dante mistake him for a fourth beast in the dark wood, orhighlighting his defects: the vanity of a Poet Laureate, the pride of having beenentrusted with a divine mission.

Even the sci-fi Nathan Never, when he descends into the slums of the city of thefuture, not surprisingly called “Hell”, needs a guide, who is not a poet, but amutant, petty thief, and a swindler. A modern Virgil for a black, raw, and violentstory.

The Gate of Hell

Through me the way to the city of woe,through me the way to everlasting pain,

through me the way among the lost.

Justice moved my maker on high.divine power made me,

wisdom supreme, and primal love.

Before me nothing was but things eternal,and eternal I endure.

Abandon all hope, you who enter here.

Hell, third cantos, lines 1-9

"Abandon all hope, you who enter here" is one of the most famousquotations from the Comedy. It is actually an engraving: it is located on thegate of Hell, the one that Dante crosses at the beginning of the third canto,alongside Virgil. This is where the real journey into the afterlife begins: it isthe gateway to the circles of Hell, the descent into Hell, the introduction tothe damned and their punishment. The gate functions only as an entryway:whoever crosses it enters Hell and will never be able to leave it again - unlessthey are the great poet Dante Alighieri ... or a comic book character.

The idea of a scary and majestic gate, older than time, is too much for ahumorous comic artist: it is instinctive to mock it, to belittle it, to makesomething funny out of it. Therefore, signs and footnotes flood Dante'ssolemn verses: requests for entrance tickets, doormats with auspicious writingsfor visitors, even practical boxes where physically leave hopes before enteringHell.

It takes a horror comic like Dampyr to rediscover the darkness andsacredness of the situation. The door wings that open in front of theprotagonists carry the famous verses, while the path to reach them is flankedby statues of chained sinners. Certainly not the happiest of welcomes.

CharonAnd now, coming toward us in a boat,

an old man, his hair white with age, cried out:'Woe unto you, you wicked souls,

'give up all hope of ever seeing Heaven.

I come to take you to the other shore, into eternal darkness, into heat and chill.

'And you there, you living soul,

move aside from these now dead.'But when he saw I did not move,

he said: 'By another way, another port,

not here, you'll come to shore and cross.A lighter ship must carry you.'

Hell, third cantos, lines 82-93

Charon was once a Greek and Roman deity; for Dante, he is one of the firstdemons of Hell. Charon's task, from the times of Zeus to those of the Comedy,has never changed: he is the ferryman of souls, the one who shuttles the deadsouls from one bank of the infernal river to the other. Initially, he refuses toferry Dante, whom he recognizes as still alive: but Virgil tells him that it wassomeone more powerful who ordered the journey, and Charon yields to theinstructions he has received. It is only on the other bank of the river that thereal torments of hell begin.

The souls waiting for a ride, lined up on the bank of the Acheron river,cannot fail to remind a contemporary cartoonist of everyday life, ofwaiting at a bus stop or at a train station. If Toninelli jokes about it subtly("Certain shows can only be seen in Hell," thinks his Dante), Jacovitti makesthe similarity explicit, and Charon is transformed into a tram driver.

Once again, only Dampyr's realistic and horror approach restores dignity tothe Comedy character. Too bad that “the demon, with eyes of glowing coals"loses it again in the encounter with the irreverent Cattivik...

There stands Minos, snarling, terrible.He examines each offender at the entrance,judges and dispatches as he encoils himself.

I mean that when the ill-begotten soul

stands there before him it confesses all,and that accomplished judge of sins

decides what place in Hell is fit for it,

then coils his tail around himself to counthow many circles down the soul must go.

Hell, fifth cantos, lines 4-12

Minos

Minos is also linked to classical mythology: he was a King of Crete, son ofZeus and Europa. According to the ancient Greeks, he was such a just and wiseking that he was elected judge of Hades after his death. Dante meets him in thesecond circle of Hell, in the guise of a demon: he is threatening, growls, listensto the souls’ confessions and wraps his long tail around himself as many timesas the number of the circle where the sinner belongs. Minos is here to judgethe damned and to assign each one of them the just punishment.Meanwhile, around him, Dante, and Virgil, an infernal storm begins to rage.

How can you tell the judge of souls from any other devil? Easy, just give himan English judge wig. That’s all Toninelli needs to make his readersunderstand the role of the character encountered by Dante and Virgil. Too badthat within a handful of strips he is ridiculed by all the damned who stand infront of him, whom he judges according to decidedly bizarre criteria or whomanage to deceive him. Perhaps he would need a written list of the sins ofeach soul, like his counterpart in Cattivik's story ...Or it would be enough for him to be gigantic and monstrous, and beat to a pulpthose who do not submit to his judgment - just as it happens in the Dampyrepisode, La porta dell’Inferno (The Gate of Hell): a good way to preventsomeone from committing perjury in front of him.

Paolo and Francesca

‘On that shore where the river Powith all its tributaries slows

to peaceful flow, there I was born.

'Love, quick to kindle in the gentle heart,seized this man with the fair form taken from me.

The way of it afflicts me still.

'Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving,seized me so strongly with his charm that,

as you see, it has not left me yet.’

Hell, fifth cantos, lines 97-105

Paolo and Francesca are two of the damned souls in the infernal circle reservedfor the lustful. They are condemned to being dragged by a storm that neversubsides, unable to stop and rest. Their sin is adultery: according to theComedy, and according to the chronicles of the time, the two lovers werediscovered and killed by Francesca's husband. Their story, like all thoseincluded in the Comedy, should have been a warning to readers, so as to keepthem away from sin; on the contrary, the love story of Paolo and Francesca hasbecome one of the most loved and quoted by Italian teenagers in the lastseven hundred years.

Cartoonists, on the other hand, seem not too interested in the tragic story of thetwo lovers but rather in their environment, the second circle of Hell where thelustful are carried by the stormy wind. Once again the model is GustaveDoré, who first represented the scene from a distance, with a black spiral ofbodies similar to a trail of smoke, copied by the authors of Dampyr, and thencloser, when Paolo and Francesca approach Dante. The latter close-up by Doréis the model for the frame in No Name, which also involves Cerberus and thesinners of the next circle, the gluttons, immersed in mud up to their heads.

Farinata

'O Tuscan, passing through the city of fire,alive, and with such courtesy of speech,

if it would please you, stay your steps awhile.

'Your way of speaking makes it clearthat you are native to that noble cityto which I was perhaps too cruel.'

Hell, tenth cantos, lines 22-27

Manente degli Uberti, known as Farinata, was one of the great politicians oflate medieval Firenze. From 1239 to 1264 he was one of the leadingexponents of the Ghibelline faction, supporters of the authority of the Empireas opposed to that of the Pope: for this reason, in the Comedy, Farinata is inhell. Dante meets him in the circle reserved to heretics, in a cemetery ofuncovered graves that will be closed only on the day of judgment when thesouls inside will be sealed forever within their earthly bodies – whereas thesouls of believers will be free to go back to their own bodies. EmperorFrederick II is in the same group. From his tomb, Farinata has a heatedexchange of words with Dante, who belonged to the opposite political faction,that of the Guelphs.

Corso Tarantino starts his comic biography of Farinata with this verymeeting: the spirit of the Ghibelline tells Dante about his past, the battle ofMontaperti when the Guelphs were defeated and the defense of Firenze againsthis own comrades, who wanted to raze the city to the ground.Farinata's canto is one of the most political of the Comedy, and cartooniststake advantage of this to transport the conflict between Guelphs andGhibellines into our century: Toninelli transforms it into a clash between sportsupporters; Maggi is not afraid of recalling one of the darkest moments inItalian history, sending to Hell fascists and those indulging in nostalgia forMussolini's regime. "What has changed since the last time we met?" Danteasks Farinata’s spirit, referring to the political hatred that divided Italy in theNineties as well as in the 14th century.

UgolinoHe raised his mouth from his atrocious meal,

that sinner, and wiped it on the hairof the very head he had been ravaging.

Then he began: 'You ask me to revive

the desperate grief that racks my hearteven in thought, before I tell it.

'But if my words shall be the seeds that bearinfamous fruit to the traitor I am gnawing,

then you will see me speak and weep together.

Hell, thirty-third cantos, lines 1-9

The story and description of Count Ugolino della Gherardesca are two of the mosttragic elements of the Comedy. Dante meets him in the last circle, where we findthe damned who betrayed their guests, kin or country. Ugolino is partially stuck inan ice hole: hungry and ferocious, he sinks his teeth into the back of the neck ofanother damned, Bishop Ruggieri. The dialogue with Dante is desperate:Ugolino, during a feud between Tuscan cities, was imprisoned in Pisa in theGualandi tower, together with his two sons and his two grandchildren who werestill quite young. After months of imprisonment, the jailers stopped bringing food.The children died and it is said that, in order to survive, Ugolino was forced to eatthem - "Then fasting had more power than grief.”

Comic artists could not miss the opportunity to draw a damned soul, stuck in ice,who gnaws at the head of another. Where Toninelli, as usual, represents themlightly, showing Ugolino pouring a dressing on Ruggieri and taking out the cutleryto devour him with elegance, Maggi draws a brutal and grotesque scene, with thePisan count eagerly gnawing on his enemy’s head. However, this is not the 13thcentury bishop but another traitor to his country: Bettino Craxi, a politician whofell into disgrace in the years when the comic was published because he wasinvolved in Tangentopoli, the largest corruption investigation in the history of theItalian Republic.

Less bloody but just as terrible (at least for football-sick people like Italians) isUgolino's scene in Mickey's Hell. The damned soul this time is a referee whobetrayed his role by awarding a penalty kick to his favourite team. Hispunishment is to be stuck in the ice gnawing on a football, an eternal reminder ofhis shame.

Lucifer

If he was fair as he is hideous now,and raised his brow in scorn of his creator,

he is fit to be the source of every sorrow.

Oh, what a wonder it appeared to mewhen I perceived three faces on his head.

The first, in front, was red in color.

Another two he had, each joined with this,above the midpoint of each shoulder,and all the three united at the crest.

Hell, thirty-fourth cantos, lines 34-42

Once Lucifer, whose name means "he who brings the light", was the mostpowerful and most beautiful angel. However, he chose to rebel against Godand because of this he was thrown from Heaven to Earth with such violencethat he made a hole in the ground. The fall of Lucifer caused the formationof Hell, as if it were a crater; and right at the bottom of Hell Dante meetsLucifer, still wedged in the ground. Lucifer is Satan, the most terrifying devilof all: huge, with black wings, three heads and three mouths, with which hechews and hurts as many damned souls. Judas, Jesus Christ’s traitor, is in thecentral mouth; Brutus and Cassius, traitors to Julius Caesar and the Empire, areon the sides.

Both Toninelli in his humorous cartoon and Longo in his horror-tonedDampyr represent the ruler of the underworld in a philologically precise way,with his three faces and his three victims. That does not apply to deliberatelymore comic versions such as those with the good devil Geppo or the failedsuperhero No Name. In the good devil comics, in fact, Satan is a recurring,good-natured, somewhat naive character; in particular in Inferno 2000 it is hewho instructs Dante to write a new Comedy to restore prestige to the image ofHell: a behavior more like that of a small entrepreneur in financial trouble thanthat of an absolute enemy of good. In No Name, on the other hand, designerOskar plays on the fusion of manga style and Doré's classic illustrations,ending up representing Lucifer as an immense and muscular demon, the finalenemy of the protagonist's adventure.

Other Damned Souls

So you may carry back the news of me,know I am Bertran de Born, the one

who urged the young king on with bad advice.

'Father and son I set to enmity.Ahithophel stirred no worse ill between

Absalom and David with his wicked goading.

'Because I severed persons thus conjoined,severed, alas, I carry my own brain

from its starting-point here in my body.

In me you may observe fit punishment.'

Hell, twenty-eighth cantos, lines 133-142

In Hell, Dante speaks with sixty-four damned. All of them are punishedaccording to the law of “contrapasso” or poetic justice, i.e. they are tortured inways that recall, by contrast or analogy, the most offensive sin committed inlife. Troubadour Bertran De Born, for example, was condemned for leadingKing Henry the Younger of England to declare war on his father, King HenryII, dividing father and son. For this reason, De Born's punishment is to bebeheaded, that is, to be divided from his own head, which he carries in hishands.

A variety punishments is found in the works of comic artists. Comic booksoften feature the greedy and the prodigal, who are forced to roll hugeboulders, to collide with each other and to call each other names, blaming eachother for their sins. The suicides are also often featured. Their souls areembodied in trees. Since they refused their bodies by giving themselves death,their bodies will be hung from the same trees after the Day of Judgment. InMickey's Hell their place is taken by naughty schoolchildren, whovandalized their desks and who in retaliation have been transformed into trees,from which in turn school desks will be made - which will be vandalized byanother generation of dunces.

The slothful, that is those who have failed to show commitment anddetermination, also appear quite often. They are forced to walk tormented byswarms of insects: one of the most horrific scenes of the whole Comedy,which Dampyr’s authors have described graphically.Who knows, however, if, as centuries went by, things have also changed inHell: according to Dossi, the damned have resorted to bribing the devils toobtain a lighter punishment. The simonists (condemned for trading in holyobjects) do that and, under the amazed eyes of Geppo and Dante, are no longerupside down in the burning holes. In Burattini and Sommacal’s Cattivik, onthe other hand, the afterlife is filled with thieves from all the most famouscomics: the Beagle Boys, Uncle Scrooge’s enemies, the Daltons, outlaws fromthe Wild West in Lucky Luke, and Stanislao Moulinsky, Detective NickCarter’s archenemy.

Beatrice

At break of day, I have seen the sky,its eastern parts all rosy

and the rest serene and clear

even as the sun's face rose obscuredso that through tempering mist

the eye could bear it longer,

thus, within that cloud of blossomsrising from angelic hands and fluttering

back down into the chariot and around it,

olive-crowned above a veil of whiteappeared to me a lady, beneath a green mantle,

dressed in the color of living flame.

Purgatory, thirtieth cantos, lines 22-33

Beatrice is the woman Dante Alighieri always loved. The two met when theywere children, but she married another man and died at the young age of 24. Dantededicated sonnets and other works to Beatrice; and Beatrice saves him in theComedy. In the poem, their first meeting already takes place in the Dark Wood:Beatrice appears shortly after Virgil, reproaches Dante for his lack of faith anddeclares that she was sent to save him. The second meeting takes place in theGarden of Eden, after the visit to the Purgatory: Virgil, as a pagan, is not admittedto Paradise, so Beatrice appears and becomes his guide.

Toninelli is the only comic artist who deal directly with the Comedy to stageBeatrice. She makes her appearance in Eden, at the top of Purgatory, enters thescene as a true TV star, and shows straight away she is vain and proud: verydifferent from "so gentle and so pure”, as she was described by Dante in a famoussonnet.The case of the comic book Dante Alighieri - Amor mi mosse (Dante Alighieri –The love that moved me) by D'Uva, Rossi and Astrid Lucchesi is different. It iscentered precisely on the poet's love for Beatrice, and the authors represent all thecrucial moments of the love story as told by Dante in the Comedy and in La VitaNuova (The New Life): the first acquaintance as children; the famous meeting onthe street, when Dante almost fainted seeing her with two friends; her death andthen meeting her again, finally, in the afterlife.

Purgatory and ParadiseInto that hidden passage my guide and Ientered, to find again the world of light,

and, without thinking of a moment's rest,

we climbed up, he first and I behind him,far enough to see, through a round opening,a few of those fair things the heavens bear.

Then we came forth, to see again the stars.

Hell, thirty-fourth cantos, lines 133-139

After touching the bottom of Hell, the immense chasm caused by the fall ofLucifer, Dante and Virgil continue their journey into the afterlife. They walk along tunnel and finally, after days spent indoors, in darkness, among flames andice, they find themselves outdoors, under a starry sky.The poet and his guide are at the feet of the mountain of Purgatory, where theyfind Christians who have committed one of the deadly sins: pride, envy, anger,sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. On top of the mountain is the Earthly Paradise,the Garden of Eden; and even higher up Paradise, where Dante will meet theblessed, saints, and angels.

"Then we came forth, to see again the stars", the last line in Hell, is so famous inItaly that it is a common idiom at the end of a long and tiring journey, true ormetaphorical (we too made a parody of it for the title of this exhibition!). It is notsurprising, therefore, that it also accompanies the ascent of Nathan Never and hiscompanions from "Hell", the slums of the city of the future, towards the morecivilized neighbourhoods.Unfortunately Purgatory, Eden, and Paradise are less represented than theunderworld in comic books. The irreverent Cattivik explores them, in a quitefaithful version of the Comedy… Even if, thanks to a pun on the name ofPurgatory, all souls are forced to cleanse themselves of sins in the toilet, stimulatedby huge quantities of laxatives.Toninelli too, in his version of the Comedy, takes readers to all the places visitedby Dante, up to the top of the heavens: there, at the end of Paradise, he describesthe Madonna and the Rose of the Blessed, where souls reside contemplating God.Dante Alighieri - Amor mi mosse (Dante Alighieri – The love that moved me) onthe contrary, ends in the Garden of Eden, where the poet meets his belovedBeatrice and attends a procession of allegorical figures, a mystical preparation forthe journey to Paradise.