Dante’s Divine Comedy – Florence, Italy
Join acclaimed scholars William Franke of Vanderbilt University, Alessandro Vettori representing the Dante Society of America & Rutgers University, psychotherapist and spiritual retreat leader Mark Vernon, Federica Anichini from New York University, and Francesco Ciabattoni, Georgetown professor in Italian and director of the university’s Global Medieval Studies Program, for an immersive in-person experience at the birthplace of the renaissance – Florence, Italy. Participants will reside in an historic hotel in the city’s old town – steps from the Duomo Cathedral, Michelangelo’s David and frescoes by Fra Angelico at St. Mark’s convent. Daily lectures and tours will be augmented by group hospitality as we unpack Dante and his muse Beatrice Portinari in their hometown to discern the seeds of modern faith practices.
This tour is designed for readers of the Divine Comedy at all levels of awareness, from beginner to familiar. The main activity each day will be to gather for review of the poem’s three canticles; Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, with attention also to its origins in the Vita Nuova. Logistics will be coordinated by Randall B. Robertson, Founding Director at Gladdening Light, a Florida spiritual arts nonprofit, where he has conducted symposia and pilgrimage retreats for constituencies across North America the past dozen years.