Dante's father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century.This suggests that Alighiero or his family may have enjoyed some protective prestige and status, although some suggest that the politically inactive Alighiero was of such low standing that he was not considered worth exiling.
In the following years, his name is occasionally recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic.Its first section, the Inferno, begins, "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita" ("Midway upon the journey of our life"), implying that Dante was around 35 years old, since the average lifespan according to the Bible (Psalm , Vulgate) is 70 years; and since his imaginary travel to the nether world took place in 1300, he was most probably born around 1265.Some verses of the Paradiso section of the Divine Comedy also provide a possible clue that he was born under the sign of Gemini: "As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed, from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious" (XXII 151–154).Do not move the page until the discussion has reached consensus for the change and is closed.In the late Middle Ages, most poetry was written in Latin, accessible only to the most educated readers.