Dante Alighieri memorial

The memorial to this mediaeval poet was assembled in 1965 on the initiative of the Società Dante Alighieri. It had been proposed to be a copy of the statue in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence and had to be undertaken by a foreign artist.

However it was finally decided to offer the work to Maltese artists. The winning design, which was selected by Raffaello Causa, the director of the Museum of Capo di Monte Naples was that of Maltese sculptor Vincent Apap.

The site was originally scheduled to be next to Nato headquarters in Floriana however the proposal fell through and the present site was earmarked by the then director of museums Marius Zerafa OP.

The surrounding landscape which is part of the flank of St Anne’s Curtain and part of St Mark’s Bastion was carefully selected because of the secluded nature of the site. It was chosen purposely to complement the subject of the monument which shows the mediaeval Italian poet standing on rocks while in deep meditation.

The pedestal of the monument is a rarity since it consists of three roughly cut boulders – symbolising Paradiso (paradise), Purgatorio (purgatory) and L’Inferno (hell) together known as La Divina Comedia – Dante’s greatest literary work.

Surplus funds left over were used for the fabrication of a wrought iron railing to complement the monument having the Maltese cross and the Florentine Giglio as a memorable link between the island of Malta and the Tuscan city.

Mepa scheduled the Dante Alighieri memorial as a Grade 1 national monument as per Government Notice number 522/12 in the Government Gazette dated May 8.