From May 25–27, 2026, Notre Dame Rome hosted the Notre Dame–Yale Dante Seminar, an invitation-only gathering organized as part of the collaborative Dante among Theologians project jointly developed by the Devers Family Program in Dante Studies and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. Bringing together an international group of leading scholars, the seminar explored Dante and the theological virtues through three days of intensive discussion, while fostering sustained dialogue between literary studies and theology.
The program was organized around thematic sessions dedicated to faith, hope, and charity, alongside broader discussions of literary tradition and the formation of the Dantean canon before and after the Commedia. Presentations and discussions featured scholars from the University of Notre Dame, Yale University, the Universities of Bologna, Cambridge, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Torino, Roma Tre, La Sapienza, and Dallas, among others. The seminar concluded with a session examining the reception of Dante’s works across the medieval and early modern periods.
As part of the ongoing Dante among Theologians initiative, the 2026 seminar exemplified the collaboration between the Devers Family Program in Dante Studies and the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture in promoting interdisciplinary engagement with Dante’s thought.
Previous collaborations through the initiative included two panels (panel 1, panel 2) at the de Nicola Center Fall Conference in 2025 that explored the virtue of hope against the backdrop of the conference theme, “living tradition.” By bringing together scholars of literature, theology, and intellectual history at Notre Dame Rome, these events continue to strengthen international research networks while advancing the shared mission of exploring Dante’s continuing significance for theological and ethical inquiry.
The seminar was co-sponsored by the Center for Italian Studies, the Devers Family Program in Dante Studies, Notre Dame Rome, the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, the ND Global Catholic Research Initiative, and the ND Cultivating Hope Forum (2025–26).