La Spezia mayor hails "extraordinary" discovery.

Two original pages from the "first edition" of Dante Alighieri's masterpiece The Divine Comedy, dating from the 14th century, have been found in the Italian city of La Spezia.

The discovery of the rare manuscripts, announced by the city's mayor Pierluigi Peracchini on Saturday and reported by news agency ANSA, came about during the relocation of state archives.

The two pages belong to the canticles of Purgatory and Paradise in Dante's epic work which the mediaeval poet and philosopher completed a year before his death in 1321.

Un tesoro unico al mondo di Dante Alighieri alla Spezia!

Nell’Archivio di Stato abbiamo l’originale della Pax Dantis, che nel 1306 concluse la guerra tra i Malaspina e i Vescovi di Luni, e pagine del Purgatorio e del Paradiso della prima edizione della Divina Commedia. pic.twitter.com/o4TlNAN0zI— pierluigi peracchini (@PPeracchini) December 7, 2024

In addition to the pages of La Divina Commedia, documents related to the so-called "Pax Dantis" were found, a 14th-century agreement that put an end to the conflict between the noble Malaspina family and the Bishops of Luni, highlighting a direct link between Dante and the history of La Spezia.

Mayor Peracchini said that the city is evaluating, together with Italy's culture ministry, a way of putting the precious parchments on public display, ANSA reports.

• Italy celebrates Year of Dante

Dante’s connection with La Spezia dates back to the period of his exile from Florence, from 1301 to his death two decades later in Ravenna, where he was buried.

La Divina Commedia is a long narrative poem representing a 14th-century vision of the afterlife, describing Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead: Inferno (hell), Puragtorio (purgatory), and Paradiso (heaven).

• Who was Dante Alighieri and why is The Divine Comedy so important?

Dante, who began composing the work in or around 1308, wrote the poem's 14,233 lines in the vernacular, opting for the Tuscan dialect over Latin which was the language reserved for the most educated readers.

This groundbreaking decision meant that the work was accessible to the masses and led to Dante being credited as "the father of the Italian language".

Today Dante's masterpiece is widely considered to be the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature.

Each year Italy celebrates Dante with a national day in his honour on 25 March, the date given by scholars for the start of the journey to the afterlife in The Divine Comedy.