Monument Dante-Alighieri, Quebec, Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

The Monument Dante-Alighieri is a monument to the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, at 46 Rue d'Auteuil in Quebec City. It is a quiet stop on a street beside the old town, and it makes a good pause on a walk through a district where several chapters of the city's past meet.

The story behind it

Dante Alighieri, who lived in Florence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, is honoured around the world as the writer who gave Italian literature its voice. Monuments to him usually mark a link with Italian culture, and this one gives Quebec City a small place to reflect on that heritage.

The route creators who include this stop tell a different story, that of the Easter riots of 1918. Canada had introduced conscription with the Military Service Act of 1917, and it was deeply unpopular in Quebec, where many people saw the European war as Britain's fight. Over the Easter weekend of 1918, crowds in Quebec City attacked military registration offices and clashed with police. On April 1, soldiers fired on a crowd and four civilians were killed. The events deepened the divide between English and French Canada.

What to look for

• Look for the figure and inscription that identify the poet, and take a moment to read how the monument presents him.
• Notice the setting on Rue d'Auteuil, a street close to the edge of the old town, where the stone of the fortifications and the city streets sit side by side.
• Pay attention to the surrounding buildings and corners, because this is the kind of area where the city's wartime tensions of 1918 played out on the streets.

Tips for your visit

• Plan on about ten minutes at the monument itself, longer if you combine it with a stroll along the nearby walls and streets.
• It stands outdoors on a public street, so you can see it from the pavement and there is nothing to enter.
• Daylight is best for reading the inscription and photographing the details.
• It is easy to pair with the rest of Old Quebec on foot, so wear comfortable shoes, as the streets slope and the paving is uneven in places.

See it on a quest

The best way to see this stop is as part of Murder Mystery: Death in the Shadows in Quebec. You reach the monument on foot as one stop of a longer route through the area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot with what is in front of you. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group, so you can start whenever you like with no guide and no set departure.