Italy, Genovese Republic. Simon Boccanegra (1339-1344). Genovino

Genoa Simon Boccanegra 1339-1344 1st Doge au / Genovino Mir. 29 NS. 3. 51 q. SPL On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death (1265-1321) , Catawiki is dedicating an auction to the Supreme Poet focused on the coins of his time and on those related to the characters of his Divine Comedy. # dante700memorial DANTE AND GENOA Among the numerous stages of his long exile, probably in 1311, Dante was a guest in Genoa and Liguria. Here he met the emperor Arrigo VII in whom he placed his hopes of seeing his political dream come true of the two authorities, the papal and imperial authorities, destined to oversee the "humanae things" for the common good. Unlike what happened in other cities, Dante in Genoa, however, felt neither appreciated nor well liked, on the contrary he saw the same wicked quarrels of the Florentine Guelphs and Ghibellines in the local factions of the Rampini and Mascherati. In fact, in Hell among the traitors he placed Branca Doria still alive, guilty of having torn his father-in-law Michele Zanchè to pieces to take possession of his Sardinian possessions. As Il Foglietta recounts in his accounts, the Poet, having arrived in the Dominante, “was solemnly beaten on the public road by Brancaleone's friends and servants. From this offense, the Supreme being unable to take revenge with his hands, he retaliated with words and a pen ”. "Dantesque cartoon". "Dantesque cartoon". Hence the famous invective carved in Canto XXIII of Hell, verses 151-153: “Ouch Genovesi, different men of every custom and full of every flaw, why are you not lost in the world? ”. The "Ghibellin fugitive" also takes our rugged land as a model, after having crossed it entering it from Lerici, to describe the mountain of Purgatory: "Between Lerice and Turbia the most deserted, the most broken ruina is a ladder, towards that, easy and open ". (Canto III of Purgatory, verses 49-51) . Continuing towards Genoa Dante finally encounters the splendid mouth of the Entella river described as follows: "Intra Siestri and Chiaveri s'adima a beautiful stream…. " (Canto XIX of Purgatory, verses 100-101) .