Geothermal landscapes as an inspiration for Dante's Inferno: implications for the development of geoturism

Dante’s works were influenced not only by his deep knowledge of the culture of his time, based upon classical authors, but also by his personal observation of physical phenomena and environmental features of the areas he crossed during his travels. Here, I propose a parallel between the Infernal landscape of Canti XII-XVI and the landscape of some geothermal areas of Central Italy, that Dante probably visited during his trips to Rome or later during his exile. In some cases, the name of the locations reported by the Poet makes the identification easier; yet, the peculiarities of some of the mentioned environments have been scarcely noticed by commenters, and were object of scientific research only in recent years. This is in particular true for the Suicides’ forest, (If XIII), echoing some geothermal explosions described, among others, by Restoro d’Arezzo, and the Bullicame area, whose features - the vapor extinguishing the flames, the red boiling water, the sands, and others - have been recently studied by ecologists. The perspectives for using Dante's text to promote tourism, and for environmental education are outlined.