Hierarchy, creation and il veltro : three footnotes to Dante's Inferno / J.D. North.
Abstract:
Three tentative suggestions are made, all relating to Dante's Inferno. First, that the hierarchical structure of hell reflects in one of two ways that of the heavens. Second, that Dante's allusion to the Sun's position (and through it to the date in the year) is unlikely to have been meant to be precise, but that he might nevertheless have intended this as the Sun's own (astrological) exaltation, following an earlier creation convention. Third, that "il Veltro" might have been a veiled allusion to the republic of Venice, regarded as having been born at Torcello, between Feltro and Montefeltro
Annali dell'Istituto e Museo di storia della scienza di Firenze A. 7, fasc. 2 (1982), p. 5-28