Beatrice Portinari

Beatrice di Folco Portinari lived in Florence in the late 13th century, her life ending on June 8 or 19, 1290. Dante Alighieri made her the central figure of his Vita Nuova and later positioned her as his guide through Paradiso in the Divine Comedy, where she also appears at the conclusion of Purgatorio. In his epic she doesn't represent herself—she symbolizes divine grace and theology, a real woman turned into allegory. The identification between the historical Beatrice and Dante's muse is widely accepted, though the actual scope of their acquaintance remains unclear.