The editors would like to thank our contributors very warmly for the commitment and energy they have shown in helping us to produce this volume, and for the insights and depth of expertise displayed in their essays. The volume is in part the outcome of meetings and discussions extended over several years between a group of Dante scholars with shared interests, especially in the themes outlined in our title: ethics, politics and justice. Inevitably, the essays gathered here represent only a part of the ‘conversations about Dante’ conducted within this group of collaborators; among those who were unable eventually to include work in this volume, we would particularly like to thank Stephen Milner and Paola Nasti for their contributions at earlier stages.