Dante was born in Florence on 21 May 1265, into an aristocratic family. Of his father and mother almost nothing is known, nor of the circumstances of his early youth.
His education was the ordinary one of his day, though he himself thought it inadequate.
In 1274, as a boy of nine, he first met Beatrice Portinari, daughter of a neighbor and friend of his father’s. Nine years later he saw her again, now a married woman, and fell in love. The story of that love is told in the most vivid work of Dante’s youth, La Vita Nuova (1283–1292), a book that placed him among the leading artists of his age. His love outlasted Beatrice herself, who died in 1290.
In 1291 Dante married Gemma Donati, a match made for political reasons. The marriage produced seven children — six sons and a daughter.
In 1302 he was accused in absentia of misusing public funds and sentenced to a fine. He moved to Rome, but was found even there. For his political views the poet was condemned to be burned; his property was confiscated. The long years of wandering had begun.
He roamed through Italy, and in 1308–1309 moved on to Paris. There word reached him that the Emperor Henry VII was marching on Italy. Dante joined the imperial forces, hoping to return with them to Florence — but the dream was not to be: the emperor died suddenly. The poet went to Ravenna, where he spent the last six years of his life with Prince Guido Novello da Polenta, nephew of the Francesca da Rimini he had immortalized.
The summit of Dante’s work is the Commedia — the Divine Comedy, as it came to be called thanks to Boccaccio. Written between 1307 and 1321, it recounts the poet’s journey through the world beyond the grave, with Virgil as his guide.
Dante died in Ravenna on 14 September 1321.