Reading order
The Divine Comedy reading order
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- Score
- 3 volumes
- Volumes
- 1320–1321
- Published
- about 21 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
Quick answer
Publication order
3 volumes1320–1321Completed
- Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, guided first by the poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, finished shortly before his death in 1321.
- Inferno is by far the most read part, but the poem is one work, so carry on through Purgatorio and Paradiso.
- Pick a translation with notes: the poem is dense with people and politics of Dante’s Florence.
A plan for the whole series
3 volumes, 1,125 pages, about 21 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 4 weeks.
Stages
2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around November 29, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.
- Stage 113 h17 daysby November 15, 2026
- 1. Inferno
- 2. Purgatorio
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 28 h10 daysby November 29, 2026
- 3. Paradiso
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which The Divine Comedy book is the longest?
“Paradiso” is the longest at 418 pages; the shortest is “Inferno” with 307 pages.