Dan Brown Inferno Personalities

Paul Gustave Doré

Paul Gustave Doré was a prolific French engraver, artist, illustrator, sculptor, and primarily, wood and steel carver.

Robert Langdon, the main character in Dan Brown’s Inferno, being a renown Dante scholar, exhibited a Gustave Doré lithograph depicting a dark entrance to a tunnel carved into the face of an austere cliff during a conference hosted by one of the world’s oldest Dante societies—the Società Dante Alighieri Vienna. Moreover, during one of his adventures, Langdon refers to Doré’s work Dandolo Preaching the Crusade.

March 31, 2014 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

The Antipope Giovanni XXIII and his Tomb in the Baptistry of Florence

Robert Langdon, the main character in Dan Brown’s Inferno, in describing the Baptistry of Florence was attracted to the suspended tomb of Antipope Giovanni XXIII (John XXIII). To Langdon, it seems that the antipope’s body lies in repose high up on the wall like a cave dweller or a subject in a magician’s levitation trick.

The real name of this tomb made of marble and bronze is Baldassare Coscia. It was created, according to the art historians, by the Italian sculptors Donatello and Michelozzo for the Florence Baptistry.

February 17, 2014 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Niccolò Machiavelli

“The ends justify the means,” is this the expression used by Sienna Brooks in the novel Inferno, from the notorious Florentine political theorist Machiavelli.

Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469, Florence – June 21, 1527, Florence) was an Italian Renaissance political philosopher and statesman, as well as secretary of the Florentine Republic. His most famous work, Il Principe (The Prince), brought him great renown.

February 3, 2014 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

The Duchess Bianca Cappello

Bianca Cappello (1548, Venice – October 20, 1587, Poggio, near Florence) was an Italian noblewoman and the daughter of Bartolomeo Cappello and Pellegrina Morosini. Both of her parents belonged to the oldest and most famous families in the Venetian aristocracy.

She was renowned for her beauty and intelligence, and her court intrigues were the most scandalous of her time. Her life is known through a mix of history and legend.

January 27, 2014 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese Michelangelo, March 6, 1475 – Rome, February 18, 1564) was one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance. Sculptor, painter, architect, and poet, Michelangelo has created some of the most famous and popular works of art that the world has ever known.

January 9, 2014 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Cosimo I de’ Medici

Cosimo I de’ Medici (Florence, June 12, 1519 – April 21, 1574) was Duke of Florence and later, the first Grand Duke of Tuscany. He ruled from 1537 to 1574.

Son of the mercenary captain Giovanni dalle Bande Nere and of Maria Salviati, Cosimo came to power in 1537 at the young age of seventeen.

December 30, 2013 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Minos, the Infernal Judge

Minos is a character partly mythological and partly historical.
Can these two things work together?

He has been handed down by historians as a just and wise king of Crete. For this reason, after his death, he became one of the judges of the underworld.

November 25, 2013 Leave a commentInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Girolamo Savonarola

The Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola was born in Ferrara in 1452.

He began to preach against the corruption of morals and of the clergy in 1482 in the convent of San Marco in Florence. His aggresive and passionate style granted him a large following.

October 3, 2013Inferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

The Florence’s Bloodiest Murder: Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti

The Buondelmonti was a wealthy Florentine family that belonged to the landed gentry. Knowledge of this family dates the twelfth century. The Buondelmonti become one of the most important families in Florence thanks to good investments: while they were not merchants and bankers, like the Medici, they were very interested in politics.

September 26, 2013 4 CommentsInferno's PersonalitiesBy Florence Inferno

Inferno’s Personalities