Dante Alighieri, mid-19th century painting by Attilio Runcaldier, Museo Dantesco, Ravenna, Italy
This unused postcard is an Ediz. Salbaroli product and has a picture of a mid-19th century oil on canvas painting by Attilio Runcaldier showing a portrait of the poet and statesman Dante Alighieri, known as Dante. Written in 1320, Dante’s Divine Comedy is perhaps his most well known work today.
The original painting on the card is 56.2 inches by 37 inches or 143 cm x 95 cm and is exhibited at the Museo Dantesco in Ravenna, Italy. The number 241 appears on the card at the lower left corner on the reverse. Ravenna has small gift shops near most of the individual attractions on a walking tour route and I found this postcard in a shop next to the church.
When we visited Ravenna, Italy in 2018 we stopped to look at the small garden and Dante’s tomb located near the Basilica of San Francesco. We also went inside the church. Dante’s funeral was held in this church, then a Franciscan monastery, in 1321. He was buried outside the cloister in an ancient Roman sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was moved to the west side of the cloister in the late 1400s. In 1519 Pope Leo X gave the city of Florence permission to move Dante's remains from Ravenna to Florence however the Franciscans had secretly moved the bones before the delegation arrived and they found the box empty. Later the sarcophagus was moved into the cloister and kept under guard. Dante’s remains were put in a new box in 1677 while the original sarcophagus was being restored. In 1781 when the restoration and the monument were completed, the bones were put back in.
The tomb has a small cupola and dome. The interior is marble and stucco. There is a votive lamp hanging from the ceiling that is kept burning with olive oil from the Tuscan hills donated by the city of Florence every year on the anniversary of Dante’s death, 14 September. The simple façade to the street has a gate with the inscription “Dante Poetae Sepulcrum” (tomb of Dante the poet). A bronze garland was added at the foot of the sarcophagus in 1921 in memory of World War I dead.
Bob took the picture below of the view of the street leading to the tomb. It is a narrow street, so although the area around the tomb is designated as a quiet zone there were still many bicycles and people lined up to take pictures and peek inside.
Street view of Dante's Tomb
Realistically only one person can peer inside at a time. There is a rope across the doorway to prevent people from getting too close
Street sign mounted on the wall
Dante was born about 1265 in Florence. Due to political changes in government he was exiled in 1301 and eventually ended up in Ravenna where he spent his last years, dying in 1321. There was a line of people waiting to peer into the small chamber and not much time once one got up to the front of the line to take photos.
Interior of the monument
Closer view of the bas-relief by Pietro Lombardo
The painting on the postcard, with minor differences, is the same view as this 1483 bas-relief by Pietro Lombardo in the tomb. On the card Dante is depicted holding a quill in his right hand also Runcalier has placed a laurel wreath on his head and added color to his robes. The bas-relief has fewer books and what looks like a jar or ink pot.
Exterior view of the Basilica of San Francesco
Interior view of the Basilica of San Francesco
The Basilica of San Francesco in Ravenna is elegantly simple and plain inside and outside with far fewer paintings and ornamentation than in many of the other churches we saw.
Most of the buildings on the Ravenna walking tour had these information plaques
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Dante
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Alighieri
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boccaccio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica _of_San_Fancesco,_Ravenna
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