Tentative Schedule for the Seminar

Week One: Dante, Florence, and the Medieval World; Dante’s Minor Works; Inferno 1-9

Sunday (June 14): Arrival in Prato

Monday (June 15):

10:00-12:00: Session 1: Orientation. Welcome and Introductions:
Christopher Kleinhenz (Seminar Director); Introduction to Facilities: Annamaria Pagliaro (Academic Director) and Sasha Perugini (Centre Manager), Monash University Center, Palazzo Vaj

1:30-3:30: Session 2: Italy and Florence in the Age of Dante.
An illustrated overview of the history of Florence from its foundation to the early fourteenth century with emphasis on the political institutions and urban development of the city-state.

4:00-6:00: Walking tour of Prato with visits to the Duomo and the Duomo Museum, the Datini Archive, the Castle of Frederick II, and the Churches of San Francesco and San Domenico.

7:00: Opening reception hosted by the Monash University Center in Prato (Palazzo Vaj)

Tuesday (June 16):

9:30-12:30: Session 3: Dante’s Minor Works and the Road to the Comedy.
Discussion: Dante’s minor works – Vita Nuova, Convivio, Lyric Poems, De vulgari eloquentia, Monarchia, Epistles – and their importance to our understanding of Dante and his preparation for the writing of the Comedy. Readings: selected excerpts from the minor works.

2:00-5:00: Session 4: Love and Allegory in the Comedy.
Discussion: Cantos 1-9 of the Inferno. After an overview of the cantos under discussion, we will focus on the three threads of the Seminar: literature, history, and art. For this introductory session on the Comedy the literary thread will focus on several traditions: allegorical (canto 1), courtly lyric and romance (canto 5), epic (cantos 1-2), mythological (cantos 3, 7, 9), biblical (cantos 1-2, 8), and encyclopedic (canto 4). The historical thread will treat the city of Florence (canto 6), Rome (cantos 1-2, 5), and the various historical figures encountered (cantos 4-5, 8). The artistic thread will be directed toward iconography (cantos 3: Harrowing of Hell, and 7: the Goddess Fortuna) and architecture (cantos 3, 8-9: the gates of Hell and of the City of Dis). For the artistic thread we will also examine the visual commentary on the poem as found in frescoes, manuscript illuminations, woodcuts, book illustrations, etc. Each subsequent session of the Seminar will be organized in this fashion, and in the materials that follow specific cantos have been indicated for each thread.

Wednesday (June 17):

8:30-6:30: Full-day excursion to Florence (by train).
Detailed walking tour of the medieval city with visits to the Baptistery, Duomo, Museo del Duomo, Santa Croce, Bargello, Dante’s House, Palazzo Davanzati, Santa Maria Novella, etc. Special Seminar Guest: Professor Josephine Rogers Mariotti (Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin in Florence).

Thursday (June 18):

9:30-12:30: Session 5: Special Seminar Guest: Professor George Dameron (Saint Michael’s College).
The Seminar will focus on social relationships in medieval Florence, the structure of the trade guilds, and the interaction of secular and ecclesiastical institutions in Dante’s Florence.

Palazzo Vaj, Prato (Chris Kleinhenz)

Week Two: Dante and the Medieval World: Inferno 10-34, and Purgatory 1-9

Monday (June 22)

9:30-12:30: Session 6: Society and Partisan Politics in the Comedy.
Discussion: Cantos 10-17 of the Inferno. Threads: Literature (cantos 10, 13, 15); History (cantos 10, 12-13, 16-17); Art (cantos 10, 13-14, 17).

2:00-5:00: Session 7: Religious and Secular Institutions in the Comedy.
Discussion: Cantos 18-25 of the Inferno. Threads: Literature (cantos 20-21, 24-25); History (cantos 18-21, 23-24); Art (cantos 19, 21, 23).

Tuesday (June 23):

9:30-12:30: Session 8: The Quest for Knowledge in the Comedy.
Discussion: Cantos 26-34 of the Inferno. Threads: Literature (cantos 26, 30-31, 33); History (cantos 27-29, 32-33); Art (cantos 29-31, 34).

Wednesday (June 24):

8:00-6:00: Full-day excursion by motor coach to Siena, with brief stops at Monteriggioni and Montaperti. Visits in Siena to the Palazzo Pubblico, the Duomo and Duomo Museum. Special Seminar Guest: Professor William Cook (SUNY-Geneseo)

Thursday (June 25):

9:30-12:30: Session 9: The Arrival in Purgatory and the Lessons Taught by the Souls in Ante-Purgatory.
Discussion: Cantos 1-9 of Purgatory. Threads: Literature (cantos 1-2, 6-8); History (cantos 1, 3-7); Art (cantos 4, 7-9).

Week Three: Dante and the Medieval World: Purgatory 10-33, and Paradise 1-2

Monday (June 29):

9:30-12:30: Session 10: Moving toward Perfection: Purgatorial Paradigms.
Discussion: Cantos 10-18 of the Purgatory. Threads: Literature (cantos 10-12, 16-18); History (cantos 13-14, 16, 18); Art (cantos 10-12).

Tuesday (June 30):

9:30-12:30: Session 11: The Final Three Terraces: The Nature and Power of Poetry.
Discussion: Cantos 19-26 of the Purgatory. Threads: Literature (cantos 19, 21-24, 26); History (cantos 19-20); Art (cantos 19, 22-23).

Wednesday (July 1):

8:00-6:00: Full-day excursion by private motor coach to Lucca and Pisa, with visits, in Lucca, to the Churches of San Martino, San Michele in Foro, and San Frediano and, in Pisa, to the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto, and Duomo Museum.

Thursday (July 2):

9:30-12:30: Session 12: The Return to Eden and the Pageant of History and the Church.
Discussion: Cantos 27-33 of the Purgatory and cantos 1-2 of the Paradise. Threads: Literature (cantos 28-31, 1); History (cantos 27, 29, 32); Art (cantos 29, 32, 1).

Week Four: Dante and the Medieval World: Paradise 3-33

Monday (July 6):

9:30-12:30: Session 13: Saints, Sanctity, and the Shape of Paradise.
Discussion: Cantos 3-12 of the Paradise. Threads: Literature (cantos 6, 8, 11-12); History (cantos 3, 6, 8, 10-12); Art (cantos 6, 10-12).

Tuesday (July 7):

8:00-6:00: Full-day excursion by motor coach to Ravenna with visits to the Churches of San Vitale, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, San Francesco and Sant’Apollinare in Classe, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, the Arian and Orthodox Baptisteries, the Diocesan Museum, and the Tomb of Dante. Special Seminar Guest: Professor Thomas E. A. Dale (University of Wisconsin-Madison).

Thursday (July 9):

9:30-12:30: Session 14: Florentine History and the Nature of Justice sub specie aeternitatis.
Discussion: Cantos 13-25 of the Paradise. Threads: Literature (cantos 15-17, 25); History (cantos 14-16, 18-20, 22); Art (cantos 14, 18, 21-22).

Friday (July 10)

9:30-12:30: Session 15: From Time to Eternity: The Preparation for the Beatific Vision.
Discussion: Cantos 26-33 of the Paradise. Threads: Literature (cantos 26, 31, 33); History (cantos 27, 32); Art (cantos 30, 33).

2:00: Administrative Close to the Seminar

Saturday (July 11): Departure from Prato

Piazza del Duomo, Prato (Chris Kleinhenz)