Dante’s journey in The Divine Comedy begins on the night before Good Friday. In the poem’s fictional chronology, Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood on the night of Maundy Thursday, just before Good Friday in the spring of 1300.
The journey then moves through the three realms of the afterlife. Virgil guides Dante through Inferno and most of Purgatorio, while Beatrice guides him through Paradiso. The timing gives the voyage a strongly Christian structure: Dante’s descent, purification, and ascent unfold during the days leading to Easter, the central feast of Christian redemption.
Readers sometimes confuse Good Friday with Easter Sunday because the poem’s journey continues through the Easter season. The account lasts from the night before Good Friday until the Wednesday after Easter. Ash Wednesday is also associated with repentance, but it is not the date used for the opening of Dante’s journey.