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Geography and Cartography in Dante's «Comedy»

Project description

A fresh perspective on Dante's geo-poetic masterpiece

In the expansive canvas of Dante’s Divine Comedy, a lesser-explored facet emerges: that of the intricate geographical tapestry of the 14th century. Often overshadowed by the poem’s fantastical landscapes, Dante’s portrayal of Italian and European geographies remains understudied. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the GEODETIC project will explore this uncharted territory by merging philology with territorial data. The project will embark on a comprehensive examination of the geographical areas Dante described, accompanied by a meticulous reconstruction of the physical landscapes through historical, literary, and iconographic sources. Web mapping will be used to visualise these elements. Overall, the project will dissect Dante’s geographical culture, evaluate his environmental knowledge, and identify potential maps among his sources.

Objective

The GEODETIC project aims to explore an understudied and undervalued aspect of Dante’s poem: the geography of our world. Alongside its imaginary afterlife sceneries, the Comedy shows fourteenth-century Italian and European geographies, most of which are still recognizable today. Dante outlines an unprecedented, detailed, and exact image of the world, but above all he reveals profound geographical awareness. The very few studies on this theme are obsolete or weak at exegetical level. An updated analysis is therefore needed, integrating a philological approach with the territorial data through a specifically interdisciplinary methodology. The project firstly proposes a complete examination of the Italian and European geographical areas described in the «Comedy», along with of those in the «De vulgari eloquentia». Secondly, a specific focusing on a selection of places is foreseen, aiming for the geo-historical reconstruction of the physical territories mentioned by the poet through relevant geographic, historiographic, literary, and iconographic sources. Web mapping services will be also fundamental to localize and visualize each of the geographical elements considered. The first objective is to investigate the components of Dante’s geographical culture. The second objective is to evaluate his geographical knowledge in its own environmental framework, in order to enrich our comprehension of his poetry and shed light on passages, whose correct interpretation depends on a clear understanding of topographical details. The third objective is to verify the possible presence of maps among Dante’s sources by matching his text to extant cartographic documents. The recent progress made in medieval cartography and the increasing digital accessibility of this heritage will be crucial to advancing my analysis. The result will open up an innovative perspective on Dante’s geo-poetics as an essential constituent of the poem.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 288 859,20
Address
DORSODURO 3246
30123 VENEZIA
Italy

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Region
Nord-Est Veneto Venezia
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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Partners (2)

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