Nearly 700 years ago, in September 1321, the Italian literary great Dante Alighieri died.   Dante wrote poetry and important theoretical works on a wide range of topics, including moral philosophy and political thought. For his works, he drew inspiration from the ancient classics by writers such as Virgil and Cicero.  In Florence, Dante sat on the Council of Priors, a position of high governance. His opposition to the pope’s annexing of Tuscan land led eventually to his being sentenced to death if he were to set foot in Florence again. It is believed that Dante wrote most of his best works, including “The Divine Comedy,” his most famous, when he was in exile. Rather fittingly, a commemorative exhibition called “Dante: The Vision of Art” recently opened at the San Domenico Museums of Forlì, in northern Italy, the very town that Dante fled to in 1302, from Arezzo (80 miles southeast of Florence).  The exhibition is …