Leaders rally in support of ‘father of Italian language’ after withering comments in German newspaper
Italian political and cultural leaders have sprung to the defence of their much-revered poet Dante Alighieri after a German newspaper downplayed his importance to the Italian language and said William Shakespeare was “light years more modern”.
In a comment piece in Frankfurter Rundschau, Arno Widmann wrote that even though Dante “brought the national language to great heights”, Italian schoolchildren struggled to understand the antiquated verse of his Divine Comedy, which was written in 1320.
Related: Dante's descendant to take part in 'retrial' of poet's 1302 corruption case
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