BOLOGNA, ITALY.- A team at the University of Bologna have remodelled the face of Dante. Classical portraits by Renaissance artists of Dante were made after his death. Dante died just after finishing Paradise, the last book of the Divine Comedy in 1321. In 1509 monks moved his bones to the northern town of Ravenna fearing their theft.

Professor Giorgio Gruppioni stated, "We all had our ideas of what Dante looked like, but if this is right, it shows his face was quite different from what we had envisaged. No human face could stand having 30 death masks made of it."

In the 1920s the crypt was opened and measurements were taken of the skull. The face was then modelled based on these measurements. A cast was made and then artists applied flesh to it.

Professor Gruppioni stated "It was the closest we could come to it. We put no expression on the face just its form. When we finished it, he looked more ordinary, like the guy next door. I thought this would have caused a scandal but most people think he looks more human."