The background music playing on this website is the Prélude from Pelléas et Mélisande Op. 80, composed by Gabriel Fauré. It accompanied a play written by Maurice Maeterlinck of the same name that was inspired by the tragic love story of Paolo and Francesca in Dante’s Inferno, Canto V.
Dante based Inferno V on the real-life story of Francesca da Rimini. Francesca was a noblewoman from Ravenna who fell in love with Paolo, the younger brother of her husband, Giovanni Malatesta. The story ends in tragedy when Giovanni catches Paolo and Francesca in an embrace. In Maeterlinck‘s story, Prince Golaud hears his wife, Mélisande, and Golaud's younger half-brother Pelléas confess their love for one another, which sets the prince into a jealous rage, and also ends in tragedy.
“Claudia Miatello’s light whimsical touch is very charming and a breath of fresh air.”
- Dr. Teodolinda Barolini, Lorenzo Da Ponte Professor of Italian at Columbia University, Past President, Dante Society of America, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Dante
"Claudia Miatello’s illustrations of Dante’s work are very beautiful and I am grateful to her for having shared a sample with me: my compliments!”
- Dr. Lino Pertile, Carl A. Pescosolido Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, Former Director, Villa I Tatti
“Le illustrazioni dantesche di Claudia Miatello sono molto belle e le sono grato per avermene dato un saggio: complimenti!”
- Dr. Lino Pertile, Carl A. Pescosolido Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University, Former Director, Villa I Tatti
essays & writings
Bibliosofia e arte
A collection of essays & writings on literature, philosophy, and art.
What constitutes friendship? Philosophers and writers throughout the Renaissance have pondered this question hoping to get closer to its essence. What have they found?
“In an era like the current one that is increasingly gloomy and contaminated by catastrophes and difficulties, Claudia Miatello manages to "remove weight" from the representation of reality, using a narrative language of astonishing authenticity and great lightness; a lightness that never falls into superficiality, but rather a "weightless gravity". In fact, in the artworks a special connection is created between melancholy and humor, capable of lightening the sadness and removing the bodily heaviness from the comedian. By "gliding over things from above" without having "boulders on the heart", as Italo Calvino claimed in "American Lessons", the painter teaches us to recognize those emotions of existence that actually arise from imperceptible moments, from small instants of happiness that hide in the folds of our daily life.”
- Virginia Bazzechi Ganucci, Florence, Italy
“In un’epoca come quella attuale sempre più cupa e contaminata da catastrofi e difficoltà, Claudia Miatello riesce a “togliere peso” alla rappresentazione della realtà, servendosi di un linguaggio narrativo di stupefacente genuinità e di grande leggerezza; una leggerezza che non scade mai in superficialità, ma si tratta piuttosto di una “gravità senza peso”. Nelle opere infatti si crea una speciale connessione tra melanconia e umorismo, capace di alleggerire la tristezza e di togliere al comico la sua pesantezza corporea. “Planando sulle cose dall’alto” senza avere “macigni sul cuore”, come sosteneva Italo Calvino in “Lezioni Americane”, la pittrice ci insegna a riconoscere quelle emozioni dell’esistenza che scaturiscono in realtà da attimi impercettibili, da piccoli istanti di felicità che si nascondono tra le pieghe della nostra vita quotidiana.”
