International Dante Congress Alma Dante

Ravenna, world capital of Dante studies

There is a city in Emilia-Romagna that, more than any other, can claim to be the custodian of Dante Alighieri's legacy: it is Ravenna, in the heart of the province of Ravenna, where the Supreme Poet spent the last years of his life and where he still rests today, in the famous tomb next to the Basilica of San Francesco. It is here that, every two years, the international community of Dante scholars gathers for the International Dante Congress Alma Dante.

Promoted by the University of Bologna — through the Departments of Cultural Heritage and Classical and Italian Philology of the Ravenna Campus — in collaboration with the Municipality of Ravenna and with the patronage of the main scientific, literary, and linguistic societies dedicated to the study of Dante's work, the congress is today one of the most important academic events in the world on the figure of Dante.

A biennial tradition

Founded in 2017, Alma Dante is held every two years (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) and has grown edition after edition, attracting over 200 scholars from universities worldwide to Ravenna, from Italy to the United States, passing through Europe and the Far East. The stated goal is to offer scholars who study Dante and his legacy — and especially young researchers — the opportunity to meet, present their research, and discuss the work of their colleagues.

How the congress unfolds

The congress alternates two complementary approaches. On one hand, the master lectures and plenary round tables, entrusted to top international specialists and hosted in the city's most prestigious venues — the Congress Palace, the Dante Room of the Classense Library, and in the past, the Alighieri Theater. On the other hand, the numerous parallel sessions, held in the classrooms of the Ravenna University Campus at Palazzo Corradini, where dozens of speakers present the results of their research on philology, exegesis, fortune, and reception of Dante's work.

• Master lectures by the most illustrious international Dante scholars
• Round tables on new commentaries of the Divine Comedy and hot topics in criticism
• Parallel sessions open to young researchers
• Public readings and events open to the city

An event for scholars, but also for the city

Although it is a scientific congress, Alma Dante is not confined to university classrooms: some plenary sessions and lectures are held in symbolic places of Dante's Ravenna, and the event intertwines with the broader cultural season that the city dedicates to its poet — from the Letture Classensi to the Settembre Dantesco. For those visiting Ravenna during the congress days, it is a unique opportunity to breathe in the atmosphere of a city that has made Dante its identity.