Lectura Dantis Andreapolitana, 8 April 2016
On Friday 8th April 2016, the 22nd meeting of Lectura Dantis Andreapolitana will be hosted in the Lower College Hall of the United College, St Andrews.
A Lectura Dantis (‘reading of Dante’) is a public reading and explanation of all 100 cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy canto by canto. The tradition goes back to the 14th century when Boccaccio began a series of public lectures on Dante in Florence on 23 October 1373. The modern lectura is a series of public lectures with each canto of the Commedia discussed by a different scholar.
It is traditional to use a Latin title which includes the name of the place where the lectures are given, such as the Lectura Dantis Neapolitana which took place in Naples, the Lectura Dantis Turicensis in Zürich, and the Lectura Dantis Romana which continues in Rome.
Here in St Andrews, the Lectura Dantis Andreapolitana (LDA) is organised by Robert Wilson and Claudia Rossignoli of the Italian Department of the University’s School of Modern Languages.
The event on 8 April will feature a display of Dante-related Special Collections material at 10.15am, including:
• The 1596 Sessa Brothers edition of the Commedia TypIV.B96SD
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s translation of La vita nuova designed by Evelyn Paul r PQ4315.58R7
• Gustave Doré’s illustrated edition of the Inferno rf PQ4315.2C33
You can learn more about Lectura Dantis Andreapolitana, and watch videos of previous events, at the project website http://lecturadantisandreapolitana.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk.