An extract from my book ‘INFERNO’, a tribute to both tattooing and my own cultural heritage:

‘The first canto sets the scene for Dante’s journey; his use of symbolic landscape and real-life characters enabling him to convey a sense of historical realism that will both serve as the base for the Divina Commedia while defining the overall narrative. Presenting himself as a 35-year-old, an age he feels is the halfway point in his life – with the average lifespan at the time being 70 – we first come across Dante in a dark forest; a land made up of familiar archetypes: light vs. dark, virtue vs sin, and good vs. evil. Here, the dark wood represents the wickedness and unconscious wrongdoing of those who have strayed from the path of reason and divine inspiration.

The literary version of Dante is not sure how he came to be in the forest, only remembering falling asleep and drifting away from the path of righteousness. So he keeps walking, making his way to the bottom of a valley. And though this place has filled his heart with so much fear, he nevertheless reaches the bottom of the hill and looks up at the rising sun in a sign of hope.

This part of the poem is crucial as it reflects the condition of the lost soul that, after focusing on unimportant earthly matters, is able to raise its gaze towards higher truths. In addition, the three elements that build the scene (the dark wood, the hill, and the sun) represent the three realms Dante is about to explore: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.

And so, with renewed hope, Dante starts his ascent on the other side of the hill – until a panther-like creature with spotted skin (an animal that Dante calls a lonza, his idea of a cross between a lynx and a panther) blocks his path. Tempted to turn around but still motivated by the sun shining upon him earlier he soldiers on, hoping he can prevail over the wild beast. However, not a moment later, a lion and a she-wolf also enter the scene, thereby crushing Dante’s plan.

These three creatures represent the sins that prevent people from achieving self-realization: the lonza, lust, the lion, pride and the she-wolf, the most crippling of vices – avarice. For Dante, avarice is what enabled the corrupt and decadent lifestyles of Italy’s ecclesiastical and political powers in 1300.

Now frightened and lost of all hope, Dante is gradually forced back to his starting point, to “where the sun is silent.”

However, on his way back through the wood, a shadowy figure appears; a character who will play a key role in Dante’s journey across Hell and Purgatory: Virgil. Revealing himself as an ally, the Ancient Roman poet – who represents the power of reason and ancient moral values – tells Dante that he owns the beautiful writing that earned him notoriety in life as a poet, thus earning him the right to be helped in his current situation.

Indeed, upon hearing Dante cry for help, Virgil states “Thee it behoves to take another road” and in that line, offers up one of the most famous and obscure prophecies of the Divina Commedia. That Dante, who wants to reattempt the short path up the hill, must instead take a longer path shaped by the knowledge of sin (Hell) and conscious atonement (Purgatory).

While offering Dante advice on what to do, Virgil mentions a “greyhound,” a heavenly figure whose divine mission is to re-establish the world order, possibly in the form of a new emperor or pope. The greyhound also personifies the divine qualities of wisdom, love and virtue and shows us that to overcome the hill and the she-wolf (avarice) – that is, to achieve self-realization – takes more than intellect and goodness.

The central theme of Divina Commedia, after all, is that salvation can only be achieved by way of divine grace, with the role of the individual being to accept this. This is both the wonderful gift and frightening curse that characterizes the human condition and its many traits. Armed with this information Dante asks Virgil to lead him on his journey and together, they set out.’