Space, Place, Border. Dante and the Horizon

Abstract

Once, Dante crossed Hell to arrive on the beach of the Purgatory island, somewhere on the opposite side of the world. Obviously, at this early stage, the Austral hemisphere was not known. At the most, some geographers and theologians speculated about its very existence and its consistence. Some imagined an “Australia” which was far to be the nowadays Australia. As for him, Dante, both as an author and as a character, should have been curious of the spectacle of the new world which extended around the Purgatory island. Was he really? Did he look at the horizon which shut the perspective? In other words, was he already anchored in modernity? That is an important question which his attitude toward the horizon out of Purgatorio may allow to answer, at least in part.

Keywords

• Dante
• Orizzonte
• Sguardo
• Rappresentazione del mondo
• Viaggio di scoperta