As is often the case with medieval authors, we know relatively little about Dante Alighieri's personal life. In his Convivio (circa 1304-1307) {The Banquet), he tells us that he was born in Florence, Italy, and we now know that his birth probably occurred in late May or early June, 1265, in the San Martino district of that city. We know that his father, Alighiero di Bellincione d'Alighieri, was a notary. His mother, Donna Bella, was probably the daughter of the noble Durante degli Abati. She died before Dante was fourteen, and his father took a second wife, Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. They had a son, Francesco, and a daughter, Tana. Although the Alighieri family was noble by virtue of the titles bestowed upon it, by 1265 its social status and wealth seem to have declined. Nonetheless, when Alighiero Alighieri died around 1283, he left his children moderately well off...