Dante Alighieri (usually just referred to as Dante) could reasonably be considered to be the godfather of the language that we know today as Italian. He wrote some of his most famous works, including the Divine Comedy in the vernacular of the time thus splitting off from the Latin that had previously been used for writing in the past.

He was born in Firenze around 1265, and went on to play a part in the politics of the time which largely revolved around who was loyal to the Pope vs who was loyal to the Holy Roman Emperor. For a time he was on the winning side and rose to play a significant part in governing the town; later the winning side became the losing side and Dante was whacked with a huge fine for something that he probably hadn't done. He didn't pay it (in no small part because his rivals had nicked all of his goods when they ransacked the city in the name of all that is holy) and he was therefore condemned to being permanently banished and possibly death if he returned without paying the protection money. Er, I mean, fine.

As we shall see in another gallery he ended up in Ravenna, where his tomb now is, though he spent a great part of his exile in Verona. He felt this exile keenly, for at that time a lot of people's identity was tied up in their home town.

In any case, once Dante became sufficiently lauded Firenze realised its mistake, or more precisely the mistakes of the petty tyrants who played a part in exiling him. Of course, he was dead by that time, so... The city created a number of tributes to him including a tomb to hold his remains (which Ravenna has refused to return, though how much there is in terms of actual remains after 700-odd years is debatable), and this place. Note that it does not say that it is the house of Dante, which is unlikely to have survived; rather, a museum commemorating Dante which is built in the general area that he is believed to have been born in.

We did not have time to go into the museum (sigh, pattern emerging...) but to be honest on this occasion I wasn't as fussed. I know of Dante's works, I'm vaguely aware of the concepts in the Divine Comedy, and I'm certainly aware of the influence that Dante had not just on Italian literature but English literature as well. However my knowledge of them lacks depth, as does my knowledge of 13th century Italian (and indeed global) politics. I suspect that it's the kind of museum you'd get more from if you want to "expand and fill" your knowledge rather than just "scratch the surface".