I'm sitting here in the sala chatting with my lola while on a quick break from studying for finals. She just told me how I got my name, Beatrice, and she has inspired me to finally read the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
Being an English teacher, she loves reading classic literature and has always taught the Divine Comedy to her students. She told me that her favorite character was Beatrice, who in Paradiso (the last book) guides Dante from hell towards heaven. My lola promised herself that she will name her first grand daughter after this character.
Beatrice Portinari was from Florence, Italy and served as Dante's inspiration after years of unrequited love starting from when he met her as children. Tragically, she died at 24 and inspired Mr. Alighieri to write Vita Nuova (must also read this) and use her as the muse for his greatest work, Divine Comedy.
Since I have never read the book despite it gathering dust here at home, I found a nicely written account of how exactly my namesake played her part:
"In The Divine Comedy it is Beatrice who, out of love for the poet, initiates Dante's journey because she believes that he has strayed from a righteous path and she thinks that this divine journey will save him from himself. Thus, she leaves her seat in Heaven to descend to Hell where she asks Virgil to serve as Dante's guide. Beatrice meets Dante in Earthly Paradise (Purgatorio) and acts as his guide through Heaven. On many occasions during his travels through Hell and Purgatory, Dante believes that he can go no further but the promise of meeting Beatrice motivates him to continue. Beatrice amply rewards Dante for his travails when she leads him into Heaven and grows in radiance and beauty as they ascend toward God."
Ah, Italians and romance. And I thought I will never find anything more romantic (or crazy) than Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. My lola never fails to amaze me.
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