A Pilgrimage to Tuscany

An Immersive Educational Encounter

In the dawning spring of 2025, twenty intrepid pilgrims embarked upon a trip together to Florence, Italy for a deep dive into Dante’s Divine Comedy. Scholars from major universities visited each day to teach different aspects of the masterwork — the Inferno, the Purgatorio and the Paradiso, as well as Dante’s earlier work the Vita Nova. Florence was Dante’s beloved home and the place where he surveyed his muse Beatrice from afar.

The week in May featured guided walks in Dante’s footsteps through the city, meals together, classroom time, lingering talks over drinks, and a farewell dinner in the hills above Florence that heralded many tributes to one another. Laughter in addition to serious scholarship abounded, and the overwhelming sentiment was gratitude for an excursion into the mind of a spiritual genius.