Dante Alighieri (1265 to 1321, give or take) is probably the best known Italian writer via his work The Divine Comedy. In addition to simply writing he had a profound influence on what would become the Italian language by popularising the vernacular and moving the language forward from its classical Latin roots.

He was born in Firenze and felt a deep bond with the city. Unfortunately during the late 1200s and early 1300s the city was riven by internecine politics - first the supporters of the papacy against those supporting the Holy Roman Emperor, later between two factions of the papacy group - and Dante ended up on the losing side.

He was ordered to pay a huge fine if he wanted to return to Firenze, which he couldn't do even if he wanted to because the new ruling party had taken all of his property. They therefore passed a death sentence on him, to be effected should he ever show his face in his old home town.

He therefore became an exile wandering through northern Italia. It's hard to relate to the impact of exile on someone of that era, but with so much of their identity tied up with their home town it was huge.

Of course, once Dante was both famous, and conveniently dead so that he couldn't disagree with the town fathers, they wanted to claim him for their own. They have been in a dispute with Ravenna, where he died, for centuries over his remains and there is an interesting story about that should you choose to visit my Ravenna gallery. Firenze even has a magnificent, if empty, tomb awaiting Dante's remains should they ever return. (Although it wasn't until 2008 that the city council of Firenze rescinded the death sentence.)

This sculpture was made by Enrico Pazzi in 1865, although construction of it started in the early 1850s. It was originally intended for Ravenna, but was apparently declined. It was changed to being a project for Firenze in 1857. The eagle that we see in the background was intended to be a Roman Eagle, rising from the ashes of the Roman Empire. Bear in mind that this was just a few years before the beginning of Italian reunification, so certain foreign powers (who had their sticky fingers all over the peninsula) were not wildly impressed by this symbol of Italian independence.