The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: poetry, pictures and music
Dantedì 2021 at the Embassy of Italy in London
The Divine Comedy, recited by Greta Schacchi and Luigi Di Fiore, set to music by Accademia Teatro alla Scala and translated into pictures by University College London Special Collections. Led by BBC World journalist Zeinab Badawi, the multidisciplinary event will be held on the Embassy of Italy’s internet channels for Dantedì 2021 on 25 March, which this year marks the 700th anniversary of the death of the great poet.
The initiative is part of “Dante 700 around the world”, a collection of events that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is running in honour of the Florentine poet on the 700th anniversary of his death.
“In London it seemed appropriate to run a high-profile artistic project to pay tribute to the many English-language scholars, writers and poets who have helped make Dante’s work so well loved in the English-speaking world,” said Ambassador Raffaele Trombetta.
Scacchi and Di Fiore’s recitation, in both English and Italian, of verses of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, will be accompanied by music by Haydn, Beethoven and Puccini selected by Marco Angius and performed by a Scala Academy string quartet. The verses will also be portrayed in original videos of antique prints of the Divine Comedy held in the UCL’s collection, with examples dating back to the 15th century.
The programme will be streamed on the embassy’s Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels from 6pm UK time on Thursday 25 March.
