Discover Dante Alighieri: inferno

Montegrappa commemorates the life and work of Italy's most celebrated literary figure with the debut of the new Divina Commedia series. Explore Dante's intricate study of sin through the nine circles of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. But remember, the devil is in the detail. 

In 1321, the Florentine political figure and poet, #dantealighieri, died in exile – unaware of the impact his work would have on religion, culture and language. 700 years after his passing, Dante is revered as the father of the Italian language, and his Divine Comedy is regarded as the nation's greatest contribution to literature. His is a legacy we feel duty-bound to honour.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Completed in 1320, The Divine Comedy is a 14,233-line poem illuminating in content and blinding in structure. Spanning three volumes of rhyming verse, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso provide a roadmap for the afterlife, and the template for the #montegrappa Divina Commedia writing series. 
 
Dante's epic opens with Inferno, and it is also here that our artistic narrative begins. Fountain pen and rollerball editions of #dantealighieri: Inferno comprise 333 silver and nine 18K-gold examples – observing Dante's famous terza rima structure. Each resides in a vintage book, lashed down beneath the warning "Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch′intrate" (Abandon all hope, ye who enter here).

From end to end, artisanal mastery tells the tale of Dante and Virgil's tour of the underworld.
Beginning at a hand-enamelled crown, the poets leave the mysterious forest and cross the River Acheron to pass through nine circles of escalating horror.
Precious-metal micro-sculptures detail the sins and punishments found at each descending level.

At the base, the poets arrive at the centre of a frozen lake, where they encounter the writhing form of Lucifer, waist-deep in ice. The dark angel's pointed tail appears to rise through the pen's entire length, before emerging through the crown to furnish a pocket clip of demonic proportions. 

The artisanal essence of #dantealighieri: Inferno reprises a #montegrappa flourish pioneered by The Dragon in 1995. Dante's circles are recreated using lost-wax casting, then arranged around an artisanal resin core. For this edition, a special magma blend of Montegrappite provides a fiery backdrop to the poet's fearsome hellscape.
 
More than 700 years since its completion, Inferno's renunciation of sin continues to reverberate through art, literature and broader society. But for Italians, Dante's renegade decision to reject Latin is what would ensure his immortality. His presence lives on in our language. Only our finest craftsmanship can do him justice.