Beatrice Portinari, real name Bice di Folco Portinari ((1266-1290) was a woman from Florence, Italy, who was the principal inspiration for Dante Alighieri's "Vita Nuova". She also appears as his guide in "The Divine Comedy" (La Divina Commedia) in the last book, Paradise and in the last four canti of Purgatory. There Beatrice takes over as guide from the Latin poet Virgil because Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter Paradise and because, … Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Beatrice Portinari. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Portinari
