Part One: Inferno explores the historical background of medieval Florence from 1216 to Dante's birth in 1265, and recounts the dramatic details of Dante’s life and "The Divine Comedy."

Part One: Inferno explores the historical background of medieval Florence and recounts the dramatic details of Dante’s childhood, education and early literary and political career. Culminating in his exile in 1302 and with his decision to begin "The Divine Comedy" in 1306, the story plunges into Dante's work. "The Divine Comedy," begins in the underworld with the Roman poet, Virgil, guides Dante and they meet a vast cohort of historical and mythological figures before arriving at the very bottom of hell and encountering Lucifer himself. Dante wrote at a moment not unlike our own of tremendous upheaval, crisis, doubt and change – as the feudal world crumbled and a new modern one loomed into view – a world beset from without and within by greed, corruption, factionalism and violence, and in which every aspect of the moral, political, social, religious and economic order seemed to be breaking apart. Confronting such a world, Dante chose not to despair but “to portray” what he saw, as scholar Lino Pertile observes, “and to show there is another way.” Seeking to save himself and to save the world, he created a poem that embraced every aspect of the learning, history and art of his time – all the while addressing questions relevant to this day. Is there free will? How can we live a moral life? How should we treat each other?