| Description : Durante degli Alighieri called "Dante" (1265‐1321),
Italian philosopher, was one of the most important poets of the European Middle Ages. With the Divine Comedy,
written in Old Italian (or Tuscan), he overcame the Latin that had dominated until then and made Italian a literary
language. The work is considered an Italian national epic. Dante was born in Florence. His family belonged to the
Guelfish‐minded city nobility. Ghibellines and Guelfs fought fierce feuds that revolved around the relationship
between imperial and papal power and authority (described as the two swords theory). Depending on the current government in
the municipalities, supporters of one or the other party were expelled from the city and sent into exile. In 1296 and 1301
Dante was a member of the city council "Council of the Hundred". He opposed the attempt to annex Florence and Tuscany to
the Papal States and was consequently fined and excluded from all public office on the 27th of January 1302. As
he stayed away from Florence and did not pay the fine, his property remaining in the city was confiscated. In March 1302,
he was sentenced to death by burning if he returned to the city. His wife Gemma di Manetto Donati did not follow him into
exile, while his three sons ‐ in contrast to one daughter ‐ had to leave Florence when they turned 13 years
of age. In 1315, he refused an offer from his hometown, which he considered shameful, to be allowed to return to Florence
if he paid a fine and made a public apology. After years in Upper and Central Italy, he died in Ravenna in 1321. The
commemorative coin designed by Patrizio Daniele to mark the 700th anniversary of his death shows, on the left,
an image of Dante inspired by the statue created by Enrico Pazzi in 1895 in front of the Basilica of Santa Croce in
Florence and Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the Signoria, the government of the
Republic of Florence, in the background. This was built in 1299‐1314 and thus only completed after Dante's banishment.
Since 1872, the Palazzo Vecchio has served as Florence's city hall and today also as a museum. Dante's death mask is
exhibited there. Since 1992 the old town of Florence has been given UNESCO‐World heritage status. At the bottom of the
coin, "Dante" is written in handwriting‐like characters illustrating the reason for the issue, and below that
"1321‐2021" the years of death and issue respectively. At the top right the issuing country is "CITTÁ DEL
VATICANO" (Vatican City) and above it is the initial "R", the mint mark of the Italian mint Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca
dello Stato in Rome. The designer's name "P.DANIELE" is below the bust, the initials "A.M.INC." (INC. = Incisore /
Engraver) of the medallist Annalisa Masini are to the right of it. |
