The divine comedian on humanity's greatest comedy

Students and scholars were yesterday treated to a lesson of a lifetime when Oscar-winning actor and director Roberto Benigni combined clowning with culture, linguistics with body language and laughter with silent awe as he took to the University's stage to share his passion for Dante's La Divina Commedia in a spectacle that captivated the audience.

It was a one-off opportunity, during what turned out to be not only a settimana dantesca, but also Benignasca, to watch the divine comedian in action - something Italian universities have not had the pleasure of enjoying.

Sir Temi Zammit Hall was packed with Faculty of Arts students, who had first preference for tickets, but also academic staff and others, while those who did not manage to squeeze into the hall spilled out into the university's campus to watch the show on a maxi screen.

The anticipated serata dantesca - which aroused even more interest after Mro Benigni's hilarious antics and oratory skills at Tuesday's supposedly solemn conferment of a Doctorate of Literature on the irrepressible actor - saw him dissect the 33rd canto of Dante's Paradiso, marking the end of his journey, followed by its sublime recitation by heart.

Intended to last around 90 minutes, his interpretation and explanation of the canto alone ran into 40 - so in depth and passionate was his commentary on every verse, transporting the 700-year-old poet into the 21st century, and highlighting the relevance and modernity of what Mro Benigni repeatedly termed "the greatest poem in the history of humanity".

Certain terzine were mind-blowing and could send him to the madhouse, Mro Benigni described, transmitting his enthusiasm.

Mro Benigni, now doctor, has embarked on a successful series of performances, Tutto Dante, on Italian TV, which have attracted as many as 13 million viewers. Even his shows in Italy's main squares have been exceptionally popular and he has been instrumental in popularising La Divina Commedia - and poetry and culture in general - even though his is not a mission to "culturise" the man in the street, but merely a labour of love.

In so doing, Mro Benigni was reviving the age-old tradition of recitations in public, resulting in the dissemination of knowledge about Dante worldwide.

Yesterday's serata dantesca started off with a comic discussion in the form of an examination on the Divina Commedia between the Tuscan jester and the eminent Dante scholar Robert Hollander, Emeritus Professor of European Literature at Princeton University and the founding director of the Princeton Dante Project, considered to be an international authority on the subject.

The man in front and behind the lens of Life is Beautiful and the distinguished professor propelled Dante's masterpiece into a modern and comic context. Though they are considered to be like chalk and cheese, the two share a passion for the 14th-century poet and their discussion in a Q&A format brought him back to life.

The joint performance of the two experts was a first - and the University of Malta was the stage for their anticipated debut, which saw them seesawing between intellectual heights and hilarious lows.

Dott. Benigni was failing the test and Prof. Hollander warned that he was fast becoming Mister again as the comedian turned to the cameraman for assistance and the slapstick took over, leaving the audience in fits. But that was all soon to change as he proceeded with his recitation by heart, which had the audience in a trance. For once, Mro Benigni was serious; his voice changed; so did his physiognomy; and the musicality of the verses did the talking.

When he concluded his Lectura Dantis, which shed fresh light on Dante's journey from darkness to light, he modestly said his explanation was like "holding up a candle to light up the sun" - poetry in itself.

But the audience evidently thought otherwise, and the expected standing ovation was immediate - they were instantly projected out of their seats and left the university hypnotised... possibly in search of their own dog-eared copy of La Divina Commedia.