Inferno

"All hope abandon, ye who enter in!" These now-famous words greet Dante as he crosses the threshold of Hell. But that forbidding inscription applies only to those who have no faith - not to Dante. So begins a journey in which terror and confusion transform into an understanding of the divine plan and the realisation of divine love. For his fateful journey through the perilous terrain of Inferno, Dante is led by Virgil, the great poet of classical Rome. They begin at the dark and savage wood near the entrance and then enter into its nine circles, going deeper, one after another, in sin. Along the way, Dante meets an array of sinners from Christian and classical history and legend. Dante also meets his Italian contemporaries, chief among them, Florentines and neighbouring Tuscans whose factiousness and greed had severed the civic bonds and wrecked their cities - including the author's own life there - and undermined peace. From the Eternal Rain to the Frozen Lake of Cocytus, from the Furies and Medusa to Count Ugolino and the Archbishop Ruggieri, Inferno continues to fascinate readers since it was first published in 1320.