A middle school teacher in the
northern city of Treviso has exempted two Muslim students from
studying Dante on the grounds that it is a religious work that
clashes with their Islamic faith, local dailies reported Friday,
sparking a major row on integration and an alleged insult to
Italian culture.
The Divine Comedy, with its visions of Hell, Purgatory and
Heaven, is steeped in medieval Christianity and the Prophet
Mohamed is one of the historical figures placed in the Inferno.
The teacher asked the families of all the students who are
exempted from religious studies on religious grounds if they
also wanted to be exempted from studying the greatest Christian
poet, or greatest poet of any kind, and two families said yes.
Their sons were instead given Boccaccio, one of Italy's other
great medieval poets along with Petrarch, to study.
The case spurred a wave of criticism with centre-left Democratic
Party (PD) Senator Simona Malpezzi saying it was "profoundly
wrong" to deprive any student of the "deep knowledge of Italian
culture that studying Dante brings".
She added: "Knowing Dante does not take anything away from the
children's religious confession".
The indignation was cross-party with Deputy Senate Speaker Gian
Marco Centinaio of the ruling rightwing League party saying "not
studying Dante is an insult to our culture".
League leader, Deputy Premier and Transport Minister Matteo
Salvini said "it's demented not to study Dante because some
people might get offended".
League MEP candidate and army general Roberto Vannacci,
suspended from duty over a best-selling book slamming gays,
feminists, Blacks and other minorities, denying climate change,
endorsing the great replacement theory on Muslim migrants
replacing ethnic Italians, and blasting woke culture, said "they
are trying to destroy our identity."
Deputy Lower House Speaker Fabio Rampelli of Premier Giorgia
Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy (FdI) party said "excluding
Dante from the curriculum on request is mad".
FdI bigwig and Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè said "we are
continuing to be subjugated by Muslims, giving in to their
extremist demands".
FdI cultura pointman Federico Moillicone, chair of the House
culture committee, said "the Divine Comedy is universal, and we
must resist curricula personalised on religious grounds".
Back on the left, PD MP Debora Serracchiani also lamented the
teacher's decision, stressing that "Dante is an irreplaceable
cultural heritage of humanity".
Irene Manzi, the PD's national schools pointwoman, said
"integration is also achieved by studying other cultures," a
point made by many critics of the move.
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