Ancient and modern occupational risks in Dante’s literary works

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was one of the greatest Italian poets of the Middle Age and his works are universally considered as masterpieces of world literature. His most known poem, the “Divine Comedy” (1308-1321) is a perfect synthesis of the medieval culture. Therefore, it’s not surprising that references to medical knowledge of that time and to population health conditions can be clearly found in his encyclopedic literary work. In particular, the interest of the Italian poet in workers’ condition could be explained by the structure of the Florentine society at the end of the 13th century, highly centered on commercial and artisan guilds. To take part in public and political life, Dante himself had to be enrolled in the guild of physicians and apothecaries (“Ars medicorum et spetiariorum”), although he never practiced medicine. However Dante knew the basic principles of the medieval science, as shown for example by accurate descriptions of optical phenomena (Purg. 15, 16-21; Par. 1, 49-51). In the “Convivio” (“The Banquet” 1304-1307) the Italian poet described a visual disorder suffered by himself when he read for a long time (Conv. 3, 9), forerunner of the modern concept of “occupational asthenopia”. In some passages of the “Divine Comedy”, some classical and modern work-related diseases may be evidenced, such as the neurological paralysis in alchemists (Inf. 29, 67-69) - probably due to metal intoxication - the musculoskeletal disorders associated to prolonged load carriage and incorrect postures (Purg. 10, 129-139) and vascular disturbances in cooling microclimatic conditions (Inf. 32, 34-36). Finally he described with accuracy the symptoms of a malaria attack (Inf. 17, 85-87), a very common infectious disease among the Italian workers in the countryside (Inf. 20, 79-81), that led also himself to death in 1321.