ABSTRACT
In 1966 Carlo Dionisotti, a distinguished Professor of Italian Literature at London’s Bedford College, set out the historical premises underlying the national celebrations of the seven hundredth anniversary of Dante’s birth which had just come to an end. During the period between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, characterized as it was by the rise of Romanticism and the emergence of a new cult of the dead and their burial places, the renewed interest in Dante was also significantly bolstered by the restoration of his tomb in the town of Ravenna, which was to become the destination for many an emotional pilgrimage. The theatrical performances of Gustavo Modena, considered to be the most famous Italian actor of the 1830s and 1840s, contributed significantly to this renewed interest in the work of Dante Alighieri.
