It is known that for a period of time Dante was home-schooled and that he spent much time reading and studying poetry. During his childhood, his marriage was prearranged to Gemma di Manetti Donati. But by the time he married her, he had already fallen hopelessly in love with another young woman with whom he never had the pleasure of even a conversation: the inaccessible Beatrice. With Gemma, however, he loyally remained married and bore three children: Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia. (The exact total number of Dante’s children is not really known because it was common that people would ‘say’ they were the children of a famous person. Without official records, these details could not be verified.)

During his life in Florence, Dante was known mainly because of his outspoken political disposition. He regularly wrote letters to the ‘Powers that Be.’ He attempted to mitigate a change that would free people’s thinking, reminding them of the ideas that had long since been forgotten from the days of ancient Rome & Greece: “Humanism.” He walked the streets of Florence happy to speak his views to whoever would listen.