The Divine Comedy, Part 2: Purgatory (Penguin Classics) (v. 2)
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265. Considered Italy's greatest poet, this scion of a Florentine family mastered in the art of lyric poetry at an early age.  His first major work isLa Vita Nuova(1292) which is a tribute to Beatrice Portinari, the great love of his life. Married to Gemma Donatic, Dante's political activism resulted in his being exiled from Florence to eventually settle in Ravenna. It is believed thatThe Divine Comedy—comprised of three canticles,The Inferno, The Purgatorio, andThe Paradiso—was written between 1308 and 1320. Dante Alighieri died in 1321.