The Divina Commedia written backwards. The work donated

HE WRITES BACKWARDS

RAVENNA - Last Saturday Michele Santelia was at the Dante center of Ravenna to donate his original work to the library that is unique in it’s kind : " the Divina Commedia rewritten backwards". After many translations and reprints, the Divina Commedia has now aslo been written backwards, starting from the last letter of the chant XXXIII of the Paradiso until the last letter of the chant of Inferno : three volumes of 728 pages and 671,447 letters. The creator of this singular opera is a forty year old accountant from Campobasso, who has integrally rewritten the Divina Commedia backwards typing simultaneously on four completely blank computer keyboards that are placed at different heights at over 350 letters a minute without looking at the computer’s screen. It took him only 33 hours of effective work. "There is no doubt that Michele Santelia demonstrates an incredible capability aside from his great passion for the computer, with which he has a particular relationship", says Father Enzo Fantini. With this labor of love the author wants to "pay homage to the spirit of the great Dante Alighieri thus accompanying him on his journey into the new millennium" ( from a letter of the author dated Nov.26,1999 ). This isn’t anything new for Santelia : he has been writing backwards on a computer for five years now. Aside from the Divina Commedia he has also written Promessi Sposi by Alessandro Manzoni. This ability that is extraordinary in itself has also called the attention of the mass media. Santelia has been invited to take part in several famous national television programs causing quite a stir among the studio audiences. For this ability Santelia has been trying to enter the Guinness World Book of Records. The Dante Center "is proud to welcome this original edition of the Commedia in it’s library", concludes Father Fantini.