Love was sung through centuries by scores of poets and was represented in all ways and everywhere. Yet, it is “into the town sitting between Romagna and Charles’ land” (Dante’s way, in the Purgatory, to allude to Marche) that takes place a love story, perhaps the grandest and most heart breaking of all. It is the Gradara Castle the stage of the tragic story of Paolo and Francesca, made immortal by Dante’s verses in his Comedy. Facts are real: Francesca da Polenta, the daughter of Guido Lord of Ravenna, is forced to marry the crippled Giovanni Malatesta, nicknamed “Gianciotto” (“Lame Johnny”) to strengthen the links between the two families. Francesca abides, but has a secret affair with Paolo, a charming and gallant brother of Giovanni’s, inside the walls of the Malatesta Castle, in Gradara, where Gianciotto rarely comes, being busy with his political tasks in the territory of Pesaro. But the day comes when the affair is unveiled, and Gianciotto puts the couple to death. Dante elevates the story through poetry: the Fifth Canto of Hell is dedicated to the two lovers. The group of three tercets, each beginning with “Amor” (Love), is still, after centuries, one of the highest moments of world poetry. Dante condemns the adultery the couple consumed, but declares they will forever stay together. The Castle and the whole Gradara resound of the echoes of those verses. In the middle of the vegetation surrounding the ramparts, the walk of lovers offers a romantic itinerary to travel hand in hand through the sounds of nature and the wonderful panoramas. Touch, sight and hearing, but sense of smell too: a start-up from the University of Camerino created, with philological care and using local products, two perfumes dedicated to Paolo and Francesca meant to match their personalities, respectively firm and tender. They can be combined to get a third essence, which joining them recreates the magic of a union stronger even than death.
Gradara