Dante’s masterpiece is a milestone in Italian and European literature, revealing the foundations of Western thinking, our philosophy, and our aesthetics. The most important themes of the work are presented as early as in the first tercet; human life as a journey and a path; the forest as an unclear space representing experience, in which it is easy to become lost; the right path as the determination of a structured project leading to a final goal; confusion as the threat of losing sight of that project.
This is what make the Comedy such a wonderful yet complex poem, often as shadowed as the forest in which Dante becomes lost at the beginning of his journey. Shedding light in these shadows, Guida pratica per orientarsi nella selva oscura helps us, allowing us to find the right path through the intricate forest of interpretation. It helps us to understand what led Dante to examine certain themes, to construct certain images, certain symbols, and certain allegories; it allows us to better understand the author and gain interpretations and notions that helps us to better understand his work. Alternating the most famous tercets with their relative commentary, our actors will show our young audience – invited for the occasion to the Teatro Studio Melato – the way to follow Dante on the first day of his adventure; from the despondency at having lost his life to his encounter with the leopon, the lion and the wolf; from his encounter with Virgil to his arrival at the gates of Hell.
And there we leave him, at the gates of hell, and those of the poem. But not before having provided him with the precious guide that we have prepared for him, and that will be of use to each and every one of us, in continuing in our studies and our lives to read the masterpiece by the supreme poet.