Dante educatore: la Commedia come itinerario di formazione spirituale

There are many paths of study that could be carried out in the world of Dante, also from the pedagogical point of view. This paper focuses in particular on the educational significance of the entire design of the poem, enhancing the classical idea of the Comedy as "Itinerarium mentis in Deum", to deepen its educational aspects. The key idea that serves as heuristic intuition of all reflection is the correspondence between the three canticles of the Comedy (Hell, Purgatory, Paradise) and the three degrees of development of Charity, according to Thomas Aquinas, that are presented as three "ages of inner life" and, precisely, are: the level of the "incipientes" corresponding to childhood, the level of the "proficientes" corresponding to adolescence, the level of the "perfecti" corresponding to adult life. The reflection on the three canticles of the Comedy in this perspective involves a polysemic approach to the different levels of reading of the text, frequently distinguishing the narration of "Dante-Agens" (the protagonist of an imaginary journey into the Underworld) from the messages of "Dante-Auctor" (the poet-prophet who sends a message to every man on the path of spiritual life, to be accomplished during his earthly life). It is a path of spiritual formation, designed for adults (EDA) who live an experience of existential disorientation (the "dark forest") and for which is necessary a journey.