Inferno (; Italian for "
Hell") is the first part of
Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem
Divine Comedy. It is followed by
Purgatorio and
Paradiso. It is an
allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the
Roman poet
Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, the
Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the
Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.