Among the various celebrations of Dante’s 700 years, one of the least predictable concerned the relationship between the Divine Poet and the earth sciences; 12 seminars examined the geological, naturalistic and landscape aspects of the Divine Comedy. The cycle of seminars was entitled “Geology from the Divine Comedy to modern times” and was organized by the Italian Environmental Geology Society with the collaboration of the National Council of Geologists.
Dante’s approach was also scientific. In his cultural formation, as in that of all the educated people of his time, the “crossroads” had also entered, which included arithmetic, geometry and astronomy (as well as music). As one of the speakers, the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani, pointed out, “Dante had a lively curiosity and great knowledge as well as being a fine observer, and the Divine Comedy represents in all respects an almost encyclopedic compendium of human knowledge between which also includes geology. Dante’s personality was multifaceted and multifaceted to the point of bringing him closer to the major humanists and men of the Renaissance for the breadth and variety of his interests. For example, in Hell there are references to earthquakes, hydrogeology, travertine deposits, mountain structure, landscape modeling with passages described with skill, richness and insight. Moreover, in dealing with certain complex issues such as “the geophysical balance” between lands and seas, Dante does not seem to accept only and passively the heavy legacy of Aristotle but himself makes a critical and profound analysis in the geological field, always preferring the observation of phenomenal data to purely abstract theories. Proof of the fact that he is a real scientist ”.
There is also a theory, unproven but suggestive, according to which Dante would have drawn inspiration for his infernal landscapes from the unleashed geology of Iceland. But here we slide to another terrain.
To return to certainties, it was clear to Dante that the Earth was spherical. How is it possible that we keep saying that Christopher Columbus proved that the world is round? It was a fact known to all educated people for millennia. Dante says it in the Divine Comedy two centuries before Columbus. But the Koran also says so six centuries before Dante. St. Augustine says it in the Confessions three centuries before the Koran. And in the Hellenic world Ptolemy said it, and before him Aristotle and Plato, and before them Pythagoras. The radius of the Earth was accurately calculated by Eratosthenes in the third century BC. In short, the sphericity of our planet has always been well known even to stones. And certainly Dante.