Dante Aligheri was an Italian poet best known for his 1320 work, "The Divine Comedy," an allegorical representation of the afterlife according to the Catholic faith. The statue was a gift from Carlo Barsotti of New York on behalf of Italian-born Americans. An Act of Congress approved February 14, 1922 (42 Stat. 366) authorized its erection on public grounds.
Cost: The cost was to produce the statue was $50,000. It was gifted to the United States free of charge.
Dedicated: December 1, 1921.
Sculptor: Ettore Ximenes (Rome, Italy)
Memorial Description
A bronze standing figure of Dante, renowned poet, shows him in the gown of a scholar and crowned with a laurel wreath, on a pedestal of sea-green granite.
Base, front:
DANTE
Base, back:
DANTE ALIGHIERI / PRESENTED TO THE / CITY OF WASHINGTON / IN BEHALF OF THE / ITALIANS IN THE / UNITED STATES BY / COMM CARLO BARSOTTI
Statue base, just below the statues left foot:
Roman Bronze Works N.Y.