WE DID IT !! 13 hours and 4 minutes. We read all 14,000-plus verses.
“The Divine Comedy,” read nonstop.
On tour with Dante of hell, heaven, points between
By Howard Shapiro, Inquirer Staff Writer
The people at Bryn Athyn College went straight to hell yesterday. It was just before 1:30 on a beautiful afternoon at the leafy Montgomery County campus, and by sometime early this morning, they planned to be well out. More
From “Corriere dellla Sera”, Sunday, January 10, 2010 http://www.corriere.it/solferino/severgnini/10-01-10/07.spm:
A Filadelfia, la Divina Commedia degli Italians!
Caro Beppe e cari Italians, per tenerci caldi in questo gelido inverno, abbiamo deciso di battere un record: negli Stati Uniti non è mai stata letta pubblicamente tutta la Divina Commedia in un’unica soluzione. E noi ci proviamo sabato 16 gennaio a Bryn Athyn, vicino a Filadelfia. Organizzati dal grande Duncan Pitcairn, i lettori saranno uno psichiatra, un prete, uno studente di college, un professore, un presidente di college, un’insegnante d’italiano (io), un dottorando, un latinista. Presentazione a cura della professoressa Victoria Kirkham, mediovalista dell’University of Pennsylvania. Riusciranno i nostri eroi a trovar “l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle” ?
Franca Riccardi
Quando arrivate a “Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello, nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta, non donna di province, ma bordello!” (Purgatorio canto VI), fateci un fischio.
Beppe Severgnini
No one has ever attempted a reading of all of the Divine Comedy like this in the US !
We have an absolute cultural first coming up in a few days. The AIS is co-sponsoring America’s first attempt to read Dante’s entire “Divina Commedia” in one day. This marathon will start at 1pm on Saturday January 16 at the Mitchell Performing Arts Center in Bryn Athyn, PA. Ten readers will be your guides through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, and introduce you to a veritable who’s-who of Medieval Italian personalities. Readings are in English, with some sections in Italian to sample the original Tuscan sweetness of this literary masterpiece.
The poem by Dante Aligheri known as the Divine Comedy is perhaps one of 
the best loved poems every put to paper. This is the story of a pilgrim
who tours the afterlife – Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. He meets
villains, demeans, historic protagonists, and Beatrice, the perfect and
idyllic woman. Written in the 1300’s Divine …Comedy is to this day read
aloud and appreciated throughout the world. In Florence and other
Italian cities it is read to the public by famous actors, local and
national politicians, and by known and unknown locals of the
neighborhoods.
To bring the experience of hearing the Divine Comedy read in public to
eastern Pennsylvania a complete reading of it will take place on January
16, 2010. The reading will be in English using a modern translation with
some cantos being read in the original Italian. There will be ten
primary readers with occasional guest readers. The primary readers are
mix of personalities. Among others they are a priest, a physiatrist, a
college student, a professor, an Italian professor, a college president,
a CFO, a PHD candidate, and a Latin translator.
The reading will begin at 1:00pm with a brief introduction to the poem.
The first canto will start at 1:30pm. With a minor break after Inferno
and a dinner break after Purgatorio, it is expected that the full
pilgrimage will be completed near midnight. Many who will attend the
reading will be at the theater for an hour or two and not for the entire
pilgrimage.
The reading of the Divine Comedy is free of charge and will occur at the
Mitchell Performing Arts Center of Bryn Athyn College (
www.mitchellcenter.info <http://www.mitchellcenter.info/> ).
