Vatican · 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri

Issue date26 Oct 2021

Total mintage86,300

EU maximum86,000

Editions4

Edge lettering2 ★ × 6, alternately upright/inverted

InscriptionCITTÀ DEL VATICANO / Dante / 1321-2021 / P. DANIELE

DesignerPatrizio Daniele (Annalisa Masini )

mintInstituto Poligrafico e Zecca Dello Stato, Roma

Issue occasion

The commemorative coin marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri. The design shows a portrait of the poet and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence; below them are the inscription “Dante” and the years “1321-2021”.

The design

The coin design shows a portrait of Dante Alighieri and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The name of the issuing state, “CITTÀ DEL VATICANO”, is positioned in a semicircle at the top right. At the bottom, the inscription “Dante” and, below it, the years “1321-2021” and the name of the artist, “P. DANIELE”, can be seen. The twelve stars of the European flag are depicted on the coin’s outer ring.

Background on the topic

Dante Alighieri was born in Florence around 1265. Alongside his work as a poet, he participated in the political life of the city-state. At that time, Florence was marked by disputes between rival parties. Dante belonged to the White Guelphs and briefly held the office of prior in 1300, one of the highest municipal government offices. After the opposing Black Guelphs gained power, he was convicted in his absence and banished from Florence. He never returned permanently to his hometown and died in exile in Ravenna.

His best-known work is the poem later called the Divine Comedy (Göttliche Komödie). In it, the narrator travels through the afterlife: Hell, Mount Purgatory, and Paradise. The work combines Christian theology and medieval philosophy with political positions and personal experiences. Dante did not write it in Latin, but in an Italian vernacular based on Tuscan. As a result, his language influenced the later development of literary Italian. His other writings include the “Vita nuova,” which combines poetry and prose about Beatrice, and the political treatise “De monarchia.”

Palazzo Vecchio was built from the late 13th century onward as the seat of the Florentine city government and was initially called Palazzo della Signoria. It thus represents the communal political order in which Dante himself was involved for a time. Its connection with the poet is primarily symbolic: the building embodies Florence as the place of his origin and a political point of reference in his life, although he composed his major work predominantly outside the city.

For the Vatican, a commemoration was also appropriate because of the religious dimension of Dante’s work. His poem about the afterlife addresses guilt, freedom, repentance, justice, and redemption within a Christian worldview, while also containing sharp criticism of the conduct of individual ecclesiastical and secular officeholders. Pope Francis honored Dante in the anniversary year with the Apostolic Letter “Candor lucis aeternae”.