Dante and Beatrice in a painting
She was really Beatrice Portinari the woman loved by Dante?
And then:did she really exist or not?
Even if it is impossible for us not to immediately approach her to her name and to the work of the Supreme Poet, of whom she was the only and irreplaceable muse, still today the figure of this girl from the Middle Ages who inspired Life Nova and the Divine Comedy, she remains shrouded in mystery.
The identification of the woman who led Dante to the discovery of Paradise in the daughter of the Florentine banker Folco Portinari and his wife Cilia Di Gherardo Caponsacchi , It is due to Giovanni Boccaccio .
The young woman's family lived not far from the Alighieri, to whom she was also close for political ideals.
Again according to the assertions of the author of Decameron, Beatrice Portinari was married to Simone Dei Bardi, belonging to an illustrious Florentine family.
The young woman died in her early twenties, probably in childbirth.
However, the chorus of experts on the matter is not unanimous; some do not consider this identification exact, while for others Beatrice would never even have existed.
Yet, and there is no doubt about this, this ethereal, perfect and idealized female figure was the center of Dante's artistic and poetic imagination.
PS: I promise to look for more information about Beatrice Portinari and, if I manage to find something interesting, to post it on the site ( Photo from :periodicodaily.com).