(ANSA) - Rome, March 25 - Italy on Wednesday marked the first national Dante Day, celebrating the 700th anniversary of the Divine Comedy poet's death a year early than when it falls on March 25, 2021.

Floence's Uffizi Gallery set up virtual tours of Dante protagonists and a show on the 'Sommo Poeta', while actors including Stefano Accorsi, Gabriele Lavia and Glauco Mauri are set to read some of the Comedy's cantos on Florence TV tonight.

The theatre world in Ravenna, where Italy's greatest poet died in 1321, has responded to appeals for a Dante festival while the surrounding Emilia Romagna region has organized a slate of events to celebrate the poet.

