The city that gave birth to Dante will soon give birth to the first museum dedicated to the Italian language.
Work on the Museo della Lingua Italiana will begin in 2021, reports Corriere Fiorentino, and is expected to take up to two years to complete.
This is “the best way to remember Dante in the year in which we celebrate the 700th anniversary of his death,” said Italy Culture Minister Dario Franceschini in announcing the project.
The Museum of the Italian Language will be part of the Santa Maria Novella museum complex, which already includes the famous frescoed church of the same name.
Specifically, the language museum will take up 2,000 square meters in the building formerly known as the New Monastery (Monastero Nuovo) between Via Santa Caterina and Via della Scala. Its proximity to Florence’s main train station, also called Santa Maria Novella, will position the museum to be the Gateway to the City of Dante.
In addition to Dante’s Divina Commedia, considered the greatest work of literature ever written in the Italian language, the Museo della Lingua Italiana will highlight the contributions of other Italian writers such as Boccaccio, Petrarch, Ariosto, Galilei, Machiavelli, Leopardi, Manzoni, D’Annunzio.
The museum will also document the history of Italian from the Placito di Capua 960, the first legal document written in vulgar Italian, up to the usage of spoken and written Italian today.
Last updated on February 15th, 2021Post first published on December 23, 2020
