Dante e i numeri

The essay investigates Dante’s conception of numbers, with an innovative approach that adopts the perspective of a mathematician. Through several examples, the paper demonstrates how the numbers used by Dante are never random, but always carry a specific meaning: either they represent plausible quantities, or they contribute to defining the structural architecture of the literary work, or they take on a numerological value. in this context, a ‘mathematical’ reading is proposed for two numbers that appear at the end of the Inferno and the Purgatorio: cinquecento diece e cinque, and pi.