Italian
On March 25, Dantedì is celebrated, a national day dedicated to Dante Alighieri. Treviso joins the celebrations with a rich calendar of cultural events.
TREVISO. An entire month dedicated to Dante Alighieri. The city is preparing to celebrate Dantedì, the national day dedicated to the Supreme Poet, with a program full of events and cultural initiatives that will involve citizens, students, and teachers. The initiative, promoted by the Dante Alighieri Society – Treviso Committee, in co-organization with the Department of Culture and in synergy with the Department of Public Education of the Municipality of Treviso, will see the active participation of students from the Duca degli Abruzzi and A. Canova high schools in Treviso.
The calendar includes meetings, conferences, theatrical readings, concerts, and moments of in-depth study dedicated to the figure and work of Dante, hosted in some of the most significant places in the city: Palazzo Rinaldi, Auditorium of the S. Caterina Museum, Salone di Palazzo dei Trecento, the Brat Biblioteca dei Ragazzi “E. Dematte” and the municipal library “G. Comisso”.
The goal is to enhance and share with citizens, students, and teachers the richness of the content offered by the great authors of Italian literature, with particular attention to Dante’s work, emblematic for its ability to investigate human knowledge and exalt the power of language. As the organizers emphasize, “The Divine Comedy continues to represent not only a literary masterpiece but also a path of reflection on the Italian language, cultural identity, and the journey of personal and collective growth.”
Thus, Treviso confirms itself as a city attentive to tradition and culture, renewing its commitment to preserve and transmit to new generations the universal heritage left by Dante.
The program will kick off on Tuesday, March 3, at 5 PM in the Guadagnin room of Palazzo Rinaldi with a Lectio Magistralis titled: “Paul of Tarsus in Dante’s Comedy” by Luigi Garofalo, lawyer, full professor of Roman Law and Foundations of European Law at the University of Padua, as well as President of the Cassamarca Foundation.
The lecture will explore in which parts of Dante’s Comedy the figure of Paul of Tarsus is evoked and with which traits he is identified. It will be an opportunity to reconstruct the key moments of the life and thought of the apostle of the Gentiles, once a persecutor of Christians and later pursued himself by both Jews and Romans, from whom he would undergo several trials, the last of which culminated in a death sentence.
On Tuesday, March 10, at 7 PM at the Teatro La Stanza, the cycle of three reading-performances “The ‘ludo’ in Dante’s Comedy” will begin, curated by Giorgio De Conti, former professor of Italian and Latin Literature at the “Berto” High School in Mogliano Veneto. A tribute from the Dante Committee of Treviso to the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics, realized in collaboration with Giovanna Cordova of Tema Cultura and the Manzato Association.
The project proposes a journey through Dante’s Comedy through the lens of “ludo,” understood as a dramatic and representational dimension, capable of combining theological tension, poetic strength, and theatrical liveliness.
First meeting A dispute: the contention for the soul (Inferno Canto XXVII, Purgatorio Canto V): Dante resumes the tones of popular representations, setting up true Sacred Representations of great scenic power. The dispute between the “loico” devil and Saint Francis for the “possession” of the soul of Guido da Montefeltro finds an echo in the contention between the devil and the angel for the soul of Buonconte, son of Guido. In both episodes, it is only the spirit of evil that has the word: in Hell, it expresses God’s point of view and emerges victorious; in Purgatory, it embodies the perspective of man, of hatred and revenge, resulting in defeat. In conclusion, a musical intervention by Martina Baratella (cello) and Riccardo Massolin (piano).
Second meeting Tuesday, March 17, at 7 PM A ruthless challenge the reversal of roles (Inferno, Canto XXII). The duel between the damned Ciampolo of Navarra and the devils transforms into a parody of the Sacred Representations, whose ethical-didactic seriousness is overturned: the devil is not defeated by good, but by evil itself, by a damned soul who mocks him not with the strength of faith, but with cunning and ingenious malice. In conclusion, Anna Manzato and Sofia Marino (voice) accompanied on piano by Riccardo Massolin.
The cycle concludes on Monday, March 23, at 7 PM The awareness of limits (Purgatorio, Canto XI) – The aspirations of Omberto Aldobrandeschi and Oderisi da Gubbio are oriented towards excessive self-esteem and the ambitious aspiration to glory. But earthly fame is destined to fall because it has its limit in the superiority of others. Musical conclusion by Alessandro Mogno (guitar).
On Thursday, March 19, at 5 PM in the Guadagnin room of Palazzo Rinaldi, writer and Dante scholar Gian Domenico Mazzocato (author of “Ti racconto la Divina Commedia,” one of the best-selling books in the year of the Dante centenary) in the Lectio Magistralis: “The enigma of Saint Francis, between Dante and the biographers,” recalls the eighth centenary of Franciscanism, talking about the figure of the saint, now felt as an enigma. Who is truly Francis? What representation has formed in the collective imagination? How much does this correspond to reality? Why have countless biographical writings immediately flourished around him that have “distorted” his image? Mazzocato, whose translation of the luminous biography of Bonaventure of Bagnoregio is about to be released, will respond starting from what the saint left us in writing.
On Saturday, March 21, at 4 PM, the Auditorium of the S. Caterina Museum will feature students from the Duca degli Abruzzi high school-human sciences and the Canova high school with a special event “Virtual dialogue between Virgil and Dante.” The meeting aims to be a moment of dialogue between school, culture, and territory, enhancing the creativity of students and the ever-living power of poetic words.
The goal is to bring forth the creative data from the living experience of the students, engaging in a physical and sensory approach to the elements of Dante’s masterpiece. Not a simple school re-reading, but a path of identification and personal reworking, capable of transforming study into experience.
“Dante and Virgil: words in motion” is the title of the proposal curated by the students of Duca degli Abruzzi. Their intent is to access the work starting from the direct impact with the words, considered not only as narrative tools but as living presences, capable of questioning and involving. Communicating, in fact, does not mean telling what a work says, but what it says to each of us: an intimate and current dialogue with tradition.
“You leader, you Lord, you Master” is instead the reflective proposal of the students of Canova, who will draw inspiration from the famous verse by Dante to investigate the role of teachers and the evolution of the relationship between students and teachers. A comparison between past and present that centers on the figure of the teacher as a guide, a point of reference, and an interlocutor in the journey of personal and cultural growth.
In conclusion, the Lectio Magistralis by Professor Armando Savignano, former professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Trieste. His intervention will offer a reflection on the educational value of Dante’s work and on the relevance of the teacher-student relationship, on the role of women, on the theme of exile and tolerance in contemporary society.
The path continues with two appointments that enrich and complete the program intertwining word, music, and historical memory. Sunday, March 22, at 11 AM, at the Auditorium of the S. Caterina Museum, “Words and music for Dantedì” – Concert of harps with the Crescendo Ensemble directed by Maestro Francesca Fiori, an event that combines sound suggestion with the evocative power of Dante Alighieri’s verses. Music thus becomes another language through which to approach the Divine Comedy. Tuesday, March 24, at 5 PM, in preparation for Dantedì, a visit to the Municipal Library “G. Comisso” with guide Francesca Sardi for the observation of the manuscript of the Divine Comedy.
An opportunity to discover the precious heritage possessed in the historic halls and to concretely approach the manuscript tradition and rediscover the material and historical value of the transmission of the text, coming into direct contact with the roots of our literary culture.
Finally, ample emphasis will be placed on the day of Wednesday, March 25, which will involve the entire city of Treviso in a widespread program designed for all ages. The celebrations will begin at 9:00 AM with a lesson-performance by Trifone Gargano from the University of Bari, at the Brat-Biblioteca dei ragazzi “E. Dematte'”, an engaging and interactive moment to bring even middle school students closer to the figure of Dante Alighieri through the language of storytelling and theatricality.
The day will continue with a suggestive reading marathon from the Balcony of the Trecento, at 4 PM, transforming one of the symbolic places of the city center into a space for poetic sharing, where Dante’s words will resonate again with the reading of
