By Becky Malewitz | September 12, 2025
Even if you have never read it, you are probably tangentially familiar with Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy.”
Written more than seven centuries ago, the epic poem depicting a man's allegorical journey through the afterlife in Hell, Purgatory and eventually Paradise, has inspired scholars and artists and pervaded popular culture.
“There’s a fascinating crowdsourced website called ‘Dante Today’ that aims to gather all the popular culture references to Dante reception, from pizza parlors named ‘Dante’s Inferno’ to video games to place names such as Dante, South Dakota,” said Theodore J. Cachey, Jr., Pizzo Family chair in Dante Studies and Ravarino Family director of Italian and Dante Studies. “The site highlights the remarkable influence of the poem across various media, which has only grown in the age of TikTok and Instagram.”
Since its first appearance at the beginning of the 14th century, Dante’s work has been translated hundreds of times. The latest Hesburgh Libraries Rare Books and Special Collections exhibit, “What through the universe in leaves is scattered,” Mapping Global Dante in Translation, examines the Italian poet’s work through a global lens. The exhibit features translations of the “Commedia,” also called “The Divine Comedy,” in 70 languages, spanning from the 16th century to as recently as 2024.
“Visiting this exhibit, you encounter Dante refracted through different time periods, philosophies, religions and artistic traditions,” said Salvatore Riolo, the exhibit’s primary curator and a Notre Dame Italian Studies doctoral candidate. “It reveals how dynamic the literary tradition surrounding Dante truly is, since the long history of translating ‘The Divine Comedy’ resists any single, fixed interpretation.”
But how does a poem from the early 14th century continue to influence modern thought, both within and outside of the scholarly world?
“‘The Divine Comedy’ is a work that, to some extent, tries to gather all the knowledge of the universe, or what was supposed to be the knowledge of the whole universe, in one book,” Riolo said. “It presents thought-provoking images and expresses different political and philosophical concepts, while its cosmic setting allows Dante to confront us with realities that lie beyond human comprehension.”
Although Dante’s visions of the afterlife have long shaped Western cultural imagination, the exhibit demonstrates how translations — Western and non-Western alike — continue to open the “Divine Comedy” to new and unexpected interpretation.
“Asian and East Asian translations are especially intriguing because they test the idea of universality by trying to translate Hell, Purgatory and Paradise into languages and cultures that don't have those same kinds of categories for the afterlife,” Cachey said.
Materials on display in the exhibit come from the University’s Zahm Dante Collection. The collection ranks among the top Dante Alighieri-related collections in North America.
“This is a student-curated exhibit that forms part of a larger research project, and that’s something special,” Cachey said. “It highlights the importance of research and teaching collections, showing exactly how library resources are meant to be used at a research university. At Notre Dame, we place a high priority on the value of rare materials and on their role in advancing both teaching and scholarship.”
The Zahm Collection contains several thousand volumes of rare editions and critical studies ranging from the Renaissance to the present.
“In this exhibit, you’ll find illustrations and artistic interpretations from some of the earliest editions of the poem,” Cachey said. “Dante’s visions of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise have inspired centuries of artistic responses — from book illustrations and paintings by artists like Buchelli to modern film adaptations — and his imagery continues to shape culture across media even today.”
In addition to the materials from the Libraries’ collections, the exhibit features infographics and an interactive map that users can navigate to help better understand Dante’s geographical footprint.
“Thanks to the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship, we have been able to create this digital map that makes the narrative of the exhibit clearer and easier to interrogate,” Riolo said.
By seeing Dante’s work through a variety of cultures and languages, Riolo hopes that the exhibit helps visitors not only gain insight into the poet's work but also helps cultivate a broader understanding of diverse perspectives.
“I think one key takeaway from this exhibit is that we should suspend our judgment for what concerns artistic taste and cultural values,” he said. “Because our artistic tastes, as well as our cultural values, are based on conventions that can change through time and geography.”
“What through the universe in leaves is scattered,” Mapping Global Dante in Translation is generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment. The exhibition is open to the public and will remain on display in 102 Hesburgh Library, Rare Books & Special Collections, through December 19. Several events will be held in conjunction with the exhibit. Visit the Hesburgh Libraries events page to learn more. For those unable to visit the exhibit in person view our digital exhibit page.