My dissertation looks at how Dante and his authority as national poet were used during one of the most revolutionary and politically active periods of recent Italian history. The protests of 1968, in Italy and abroad, led to widespread refusal of what was perceived to be part of "traditional" culture. In the course of four chapters, my dissertation argues that, despite such aversion to conservative texts, Dante’s presence never faded. I therefore re-situate Dante’s influence in a post 1968 Italy, showing how Italy’s national poet was both embraced and rejected, and was made to serve various – and at times antithetical - purposes. Drawing upon adaptation studies, queer theory and cultural studies, my analysis traces this particular kind of Dantean reception in literature, films, music, live performances, in the underground publishing industry (including the first Italian LGBTQ and feminist publications), and in the counterculture at large, from 1968 to the beginning of the 1980s.