cafeinevitable:

Dante by Michael Parkes

Stone Lithograph

Dante met Beatrice in 1274 when they were both nine years old. Others have described an encounter in her 21st year where they met on a bridge crossing the Arno and held a brief conversation. After her death, Dante seems to separate and live in two distinctly different worlds. He would later begin a journey into an interior world that would forever change the face of western literature. His guide on that inner journey was Beatrice.