“Dante addresses the core of our humanity and his message is your life matters. Take care of it. Your life matters.” Riccardo Bruscagli
Last week Professor Riccardo Bruscagli delighted us with his reading of and reflections on The Divine Comedy, led us on a discovery of the poet’s masterpiece, and invited us into the world of the PBS two-part documentary film Dante: Inferno to Paradise directed by Ric Burns and co-written by Bruscagli and Burns. In today’s episode, we dig deeper into the film, explore the complexities of the poet’s characters and, with Riccardo’s expert guidance, come to understand and appreciate how much we, as contemporary readers, can learn from Dante. Biography & Links Riccardo Bruscagli is Emeritus Professor of Italian Literature at the University of Florence. He was a full Professor of Italian Literature at the University from 1987 until his retirement. In 2010 he was elected Dean of the Faculty. Riccardo has given lectures and been visiting professor at many renowned universities the world over including Stanford, Berkeley, Rutgers, CUNY, the Sorbonne and Bonn Universität, to name a few. He is a member of the board of directors of the Società Dantesca. Most recently, he has teamed up with documentary filmmaker Ric Burns to write and produce a PBS documentary on Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy.