Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265.<br />He actively participated in the political life of the city and in 1301,<br />as a result of the con ict between Guelphs and Ghibellines, was<br />condemned to two years of exile. In 1307 he began the most important<br />work of his life, the Divine Comedy, an epic poem that describes<br />Dante&rsquo;s journey through the kingdom of the afterlife, rstly with<br />the guidance of Virgil, then Beatrice and nally of St. Bernard.