Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) was born into a noble family in Florence. His most famous works are The New Life (circa 1293); De Vulgari Eloquentia (circa 1304–7), a defense of the use of the vernacular in literature; and his epic vision of the afterlife, The Divine Comedy, which he began in 1307 and finished shortly before his death.