Dante’s tomb possible ISIS target.

There are several reports in Italian newspapers including the Firenze Post, and in English, The Times.

The monument dedicated to the poet appears in a list of sensitive targets compiled by analysts of the Interior Ministry and disclosed to the police headquarters and prefectures throughout Italy so that they take appropriate action. Also included are Basilica of San Marco in Venice, Palazzo del Principe in Genoa, Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Sanctuary of Sacro Speco in Subiaco (Rome), Italy, the Vatican and the ‘Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Cita in Palermo.

The tomb of Dante is considered a potential target because of what he wrote about Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali (who Shia Muslims believe should have been Mohammed’s successor) in The Divine Comedy.

(He) describes a fictional encounter with Muhammad during his descent into hell in The Divine Comedy. Devils have cut Muhammad’s chest open. “See how I tear myself, see how Muhammad is ripped!” the prophet exclaims. Beside him, Ali, his son-in-law — believed by Shia Muslims to be Muhammad’s successor — wanders, “his face split from chin to scalp”. As soon as their wounds heal, sword-wielding devils cut them open again. Dante describes the pair as “sowers of scandal and schism in their lifetimes, so they are cleft like this”,

The basilica of San Petronio in Bologna contains a fresco depicting scenes from the Divine Comedy.

The issue of the list follows the knife attack on the young woman at the Colosseum in Rome yesterday by a man shouting Allah Akbar and the bomb at the Italian Consulate in Cairo on Monday.