In just few verses, the twenty-first canto of Dante’s Inferno offers us a clear and detailed snapshot of the winter shipyard of the Venice Arsenal, engaged in the maintenance and construction of ships during the seasonal break from navigation and articulated in the functional division of its specific activities. This article aims to examine the passage not only from a literary perspective, but firstly as important evidence of a precisely identified medieval productive landscape, which can be dated between about 1306 and 1314, depicted by the poet with the utmost commitment to adhere to reality. Starting from the literary source underlying the passage, Virgil’s verses on the establishment of Carthage (Aen. I, 423-429) that Dante used earlier in De vulgari eloquentia for the building of the tower of Babel (I, VII, 6), the poet’s ability to understand and accurately portray the dynamics of an organized system of work will be highlighted. Dante portrays the specificity of the Venetian shipyard both in the production logic and in the highly specialized technical language and demonstrates that he grasps the importance of the settlement, still today one of most important identity signs of the Adriatic city.
Il ventunesimo canto dell’Inferno di Dante ci offre, nello spazio di pochi versi, un’istantanea nitida e dettagliata del cantiere invernale dell’Arsenale di Venezia, impegnato nella manutenzione e nella costruzione delle navi durante la pausa stagionale della navigazione e articolato nella divisione funzionale delle attività specifiche. Il contributo si propone di analizzare il brano non solo in una prospettiva letteraria, ma soprattutto in quanto importante testimonianza di un paesaggio produttivo medievale precisamente individuato, collocabile entro gli estremi cronologici compresi fra il 1306 e il 1314 circa, riprodotto con il massimo impegno di aderenza al reale. A partire dalla fonte letteraria sottesa al passo, identificata nei versi virgiliani sull’edificazione di Cartagine (Aen. I, 423-429) già impiegati nel De vulgari eloquentia per la costruzione della torre di Babele (I, VII, 6), verrà posta in evidenza la capacità dantesca di comprendere e restituire con esattezza la dinamica di un sistema organizzato di lavoro. Dante rappresenta la specificità del cantiere navale veneziano sia nella logica produttiva sia nel linguaggio tecnico altamente specialistico, e dimostra di cogliere l’importanza dell’insediamento, ancor oggi uno dei segni identitari di maggior rilievo della città adriatica.
Adriatic images in Dante’s “Commedia". L'«arzanà de’ Viniziani» ("Inf”. XXI, 7-21)
Giovanna Corazza
In corso di stampa
Abstract
In just few verses, the twenty-first canto of Dante’s Inferno offers us a clear and detailed snapshot of the winter shipyard of the Venice Arsenal, engaged in the maintenance and construction of ships during the seasonal break from navigation and articulated in the functional division of its specific activities. This article aims to examine the passage not only from a literary perspective, but firstly as important evidence of a precisely identified medieval productive landscape, which can be dated between about 1306 and 1314, depicted by the poet with the utmost commitment to adhere to reality. Starting from the literary source underlying the passage, Virgil’s verses on the establishment of Carthage (Aen. I, 423-429) that Dante used earlier in De vulgari eloquentia for the building of the tower of Babel (I, VII, 6), the poet’s ability to understand and accurately portray the dynamics of an organized system of work will be highlighted. Dante portrays the specificity of the Venetian shipyard both in the production logic and in the highly specialized technical language and demonstrates that he grasps the importance of the settlement, still today one of most important identity signs of the Adriatic city.
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