"Tuesday [...] imitating Dante" Dante on stage

On 17 January 1839 the Opera Concert Room of the Queen's Theatre in London announced a performance made up of a mix of poetry and music. On the London stage, dressed as Dante Alighieri, an Italian artist in exile was scheduled to act out several passages from the Divine Comedy. That artist's name was Gustavo Modena. It was Mazzini's influence that inspired his vision and theatrical practice devoid of commercialisation and fashionable caprice. The staging of the Comedy paved the way for a singular and highly successful socio-literary action, destined to last and important for the reception of Dante's work beyond the circle of specialist readers. Thanks to the theatrical medium, the Comedy proved once again to be a vital part of national identity.