Italian Research Seminar — "As Above, So Below: The Beauty of the Creation of Hell"

Botticelli, The Map of Hell (c. 1480–90) , Vatican Apostolic Library. As part of the 2026 Fall Italian Research Seminar series, the Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a presentation by Beatrice Rosso, Ph. D candidate in Italian Studies, titled: As Above, So Below: The Beauty of the Creation of Hell The account of creation in the Commedia represents a fundamental theme that runs through the three canticles. In the Inferno, there are four accounts of the creation myth, each underlining a different aspect of the first moment of the cosmos. The very first account happens in the proemial canto to the whole poem, Inferno 1. As the pilgrim is about to start his journey, he sees the sun rising in the constellation of Aries and has a glimpse of the dawn of Creation. This moment anchors the pilgrim-to-be in two fundamental axioms: Divine Love, in the creation moment, set all things in motion, and all that He creates is beautiful. This is a fundamental statement as the pilgrim is about to enter the infernal kingdom. The fact that the Gate of Hell was part of the initial creation (Inferno 3) implies that the Gate, and all it contains, are part of the “cose belle” (40) . Rather than being a simple embellishment, this statement changes the ontological status of Hell. By proposing to read the deformations and apparent disorder of Hell as privatio pulchritudinis, an aesthetic analog to Augustine’s privatio boni, this paper demonstrates that Hell is a necessary, balanced, and ultimately beautiful component of the ordo universi, over which God reigns as the sole mover and ruler. In this light, Dante’s creation accounts stand as a radical refusal of dualism: there is no eternal fight between Good and Evil, Beauty and Ugliness, or Order and Disorder. In the Dantean universe, everything that exists remains perfectly part of God’s plan, including its apparent deformations. The Italian Research Seminar, a core event of the Center for Italian Studies, aims to provide a regular forum for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and colleagues from other universities to present and discuss their current research. The Seminar is vigorously interdisciplinary, and embraces all areas of Italian literature, language, and culture, as well as perceptions of Italy, its achievements and its peoples in other national and international cultures. The Seminar constitutes an important element in the effort by Notre Dame's Center for Italian Studies to promote the study of Italy and to serve as a strategic point of contact for scholarly exchange. Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.