The Alighieri Family of Florence did not become famous because of its nobility status but because it gave birth to the poet Dante. In La Divina Commedia, "The Paradiso" section, Cacciaguida degli Elisei, Dante's great-great-grandfather, tells us the origins of the Alighieri family.

They descended from the family of the Elisei. Adamo Elisei's son was Cacciaguida who married an Aldighieri from Ferrara and had a child named Aldighiero, the founder of the family. Aldighiero had a son named Bellincione who settled in San Martino al Vescovo; he fathered Alighiero, a judge who despised the trade of lending money on usury and chose instead to become a small landowner. Alighiero married twice, the first time to Bella degli Abati, from whom he had Durante a.k.a Dante; Bella died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa daughter of Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, as widowers had social limitations in these matters. This woman definitely bore two children, Dante's brother Francesco and sister Tana (Gaetana).

The exact date of Dante's birth is not known, although it is generally believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in "the Inferno" section (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita - "Halfway through the journey we are living...", implying that Dante was around 35 years old, as the average lifespan according to the Bible is 70 years, and as the imaginary travel took place in 1300 Dante must have been born around 1265).

When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma daughter of Messer Manetto Donati. Contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. Dante had already fallen in love with another woman, Beatrice Portinari (known also as Bice) the daughter of Folco di Ricovero Portinari. Dante met her at the age of nine when his father took him to the Portinari house for a May Day party. At the time, Beatrice was eight years old, a year younger than Dante. Dante was instantly taken with her and remained so throughout her life even though she married another man. Beatrice died in June of 1290 at the age of 24. After Beatrice's death, Dante withdrew into intense study and began composing poems dedicated to her memory; he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems.

To further his political career and take part in public life, Dante became a pharmacist. He did not intend to actually practice as one, but a law issued in 1295 required that nobles who wanted public office had to be enrolled in one of the "Corporazioni delle Arti e dei Mestieri" so Dante obtained admission to the apothecaries' guild. This profession was not entirely irrelevant, since at that time books were sold from apothecaries' shops. As a politician, he accomplished little, but he held various offices over a number of years in a city undergoing political unrest. During this time Florence was threatened by two competing "Guilds". One side was the Guelphs, a political alliance supporting the Papacy, while the other side, the Ghibellines supported the Holy Roman Emperor. Dante's family belonged to the Guelphs.

Dante, after marrying Gemma, had several children. As often happens with significant figures, many people subsequently claimed to be Dante's offspring; however, it is likely that Pietro, Jacopo, Giovanni, Gabrielle Alighieri and Antonia were truly his children. Antonia became a nun known as Suor (Sister) Beatrice.

Dante died in 1321 (at the age of 56) possibly of malaria while returning to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission to Venice. Dante was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called San Francesco). Dante’s children followed their father in exile in 1302; after his father's death, Pietro’s family settled in Verona. The Alighieri family ended in Verona in 1558 and the Serego Family inherited the Alighieri name after the last female family member married a Serego.

If Dante's family tree can be documented back to the early 1000s through his literary works, we don’t need to descend from a famous writer to learn ours. Learning about our origins can be an important legacy to our children, after all memories are not used to remember the lost time, but to start again, knowing that losing our roots inevitably leads to a loss in our identity as people who live, think and love.

Learning about our origins can be an important legacy to our children, after all memories are not used to remember the lost time, but to start again, knowing that losing our roots inevitably leads to a loss in our identity as people who live, think and love.

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