Italy begins year of Dante anniversary events with virtual Uffizi exhibition

Gallery puts seldom-seen Divine Comedy sketches on display online to mark 700 years since poet's death

Eighty-eight rarely seen drawings of Dante's The Divine Comedy have been put on virtual display as Italy begins a year-long calendar of events to mark the 700th anniversary of the poet's death.

The drawings, by the 16th-century Renaissance artist Federico Zuccari, are being exhibited online, for free, by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.