Walking into Dante’s Inferno

This experience walks the edge between history and imagination, following Dante Alighieri through a city that burned long before he cast it into verse. Florence in the Middle Ages was already a theatre of violence, plague, betrayals, and power struggles — Dante saw it all and made it eternal. You’ll stop at the Duomo, where his best-known portrait still watches over the city, and the Battistero, the only church unchanged since his time. In Sant’Ambrogio, the memory of a children’s cemetery lingers, echoing the invention of Limbo. The alleys of his political quarter speak of exile and vendetta, while the Lungarni still carry the weight of lives and sins he condemned in poetry. Each step brings you closer to the real city that became a blueprint for the Inferno — not a metaphor, but a mirror. Dante didn’t imagine hell. He lived in it. And in shaping it, he sealed Florence into the afterlife.

What sets this experience apart is its focus on the figure who shaped Italian literature and profoundly influenced how Florence is seen and remembered across the centuries. Dante Alighieri — known in Italy as il Sommo Poeta, the Supreme Poet — turned a city torn by plague, violence, and political strife into the timeless landscape of his Divine Comedy. This walk brings those verses back to the streets that inspired them, revealing a Florence both real and imagined. You’ll follow a path through places tied to Dante’s life and fears, guided as much by literature as by history. The experience uncovers a lesser-known Florence — its medieval core, its lost cemeteries, its riverside scenes — through lines that still burn with meaning. Guido, a licensed guide with deep roots in Tuscany, brings rare insight to the experience. With care and precision, he weaves Dante’s world into the very streets of the city, making each stop resonate with both cultural depth and human intensity.

Guido Scattola is a licensed guide with over six years of experience bringing Italy’s cultural heritage to life. Born in Venice and raised in Tuscany, he found in Florence a city that captured both his heart and his curiosity. Since 2018, he has led visitors through its streets, museums, and quiet corners, sharing not only the grandeur of Renaissance art and architecture but also the subtle charm of the city’s lesser-known stories. What makes Guido’s approach unique is his ability to balance the majestic with the intimate. Whether he’s guiding you through the opulent halls of the Medici, exploring the legacy of Dante, or unveiling the traditions behind Florentine fashion, he does so with contagious enthusiasm and deep knowledge. For Guido, every detail in Florence tells a story — and his passion lies in revealing how those stories weave together into something unforgettable.

Comfortable shoes.