The first verse of Inferno 18 - “Luogo è in inferno detto Malebolge” - is interesting on a number of counts.

“Luogo è in inferno detto Malebolge” (There is a place in hell called Malebolge) begins the canto, with a verse that is crisply informative, explicitly introductory, and patently devoted to differentiation: this is a new place, a new locus. Inferno 18 constitutes an emphatic new beginning situated at the canticle’s midpoint, at its narrative mezzo del cammin. This - finally - is the true entrance to lower Hell: The opening verse of this canto self-consciously marks a narrative new beginning within the economy of Inferno. Each trench houses a different kind of fraud. Its immensity is reflected in the number of its subdivisions: the eighth circle is subdivided into ten “evil ditches” or “evil trenches” - hence the name that Dante coins, “Malebolge”. The eighth circle makes up 38% of Dante’s Hell, textually speaking. The enormous eighth circle, featuring souls who committed ten different varieties of fraudulent sin, extends from Inferno 18 all the way to Inferno 30. Inferno 18 is the first canto devoted to the eighth circle of Hell, the circle of fraud.

Inferno 18 offers two sets of classical/contemporary couples.

Malebolge features sinners who are coupled: one taken from the classical world and one taken from the contemporary world.

the presence of sexualized sins and sinners.political identity as linguistic identity (“sipa” as the Bolognese for “yes”) and the connection to De vulgari eloquentia.Dante features Italian cities in Malebolge in this canto they are Bologna and Lucca.Dante’s emphasis on the semiotic nature of fraud.here we find devils as guardians, compared to the classically inspired and animal-based guardians of upper Hell.the eighth circle boasts a built environment - urban and architectural - as compared to the perverted natural environment of the circle of violence.the eighth circle has a name: “Malebolge” (evil ditches or evil trenches).a new beginning: the start of lower Hell and entry into the domain of fraud.

Dante&#39;s inferno text pdf

Dante's inferno text pdf