Fresco depicting Dante Alighieri
A trivial mosquito killed our greatest poet: Dante Alighieri died of malaria, a disease at the time anything but rare and, unfortunately, almost always with a fatal outcome.
The facts, more or less, took place as follows.
For some time Dante had been living in Ravenna under the protection of Guido da Polenta , who entrusted him with a diplomatic mission to the Doge of Venice.
Returning from the beautiful lagoon city, while crossing the marshy and unhealthy Valli di Comacchio , the author of the Divine Comedy , bitten by some mosquito, contracted the disease.
In the night between 13 and 14 September 1321 , an attack of evil was fatal to him.
The artist was 56 years old.
The sudden death of the great poet created pain and regret in the cultural and literary environment of the time, so much so that at the solemn funeral, celebrated in Ravenna itself in the Church of San Pier Maggiore (now San Francesco), the highest city authorities participated.