Explores the turbulent background of medieval Florence from 1216 to Dante's birth in 1265, and chronicles Dante's childhood, education and early career as a poet and politician - culminating in his exile in 1302. The film also examines his decision to begin The Divine Comedy in 1306 - plunging with Dante and his readers into the underworld itself where, guided by the great Roman poet, Virgil, he will meet a vast cohort of historical and mythological figures - and arriving finally at the very bottom of hell, in their encounter with Lucifer himself.
Explores Dante’s experience in exile, and his completion of the last two parts of the Comedy, shortly before his death in Ravenna in 1321. Interweaving soaring scenes from the second and third parts of The Divine Comedy with key events of Dante's biography, Part Two chronicles the poet's journey up the mountain of Purgatory, and the heavenly spheres of Paradise. The film goes on to explore the afterlife and literary and cultural fate of Dante's masterpiece, from the time of his death in 1321 down to the present.
