Dante Alighieri, was an Italian poet , known for writing the Divine Comedy, one of the masterpieces of Italian and world literature.
He was a Florentine poet, writer and philosopher. He is best known for establishing the use of ther vernacular in literature in times where the common language was Latin. He used Tuscan dialect, and thanks to his work, he contributed to later establish the modern-day standardized Italian language. His work set a precedent that important Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would later follow.
For this reason he is considered as the "father" of the Italian language, and in Italy he is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet"). Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also called the tre corone ("three crowns") of Italian literature.
The Divine Comedy is an allegorical epic written between 1304 and his death.
