Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in 1261. As a brilliant and well-respected Florentine, he entered politics. In 1301, after a political upheaval in Florence, Dante was unjustly banished from the city of his birth. Exiled for the rest of his life, Dante turned his poetic genius to writing a masterpiece of Italian poetry, The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy endures as a great Christian drama about sin, redemption, and salvation. Reading this story can encourage us to follow in the footsteps of Dante, who responded to physical adversity by focusing his energy on the spiritual world and remaining true to the Faith.