Test site. Anything you add or change here may be removed, and won't carry over to the live site.

← Return to gazetteer

Dellinferno

Ancient name
Ninguaria
Modern name
Tenerife
Modern country
Canary Islands (Spain)
Dellinferno, now Tenerife, is the largest of the Canary Islands. It is formed around a central volcanic mountain called Mount Teide, which has the highest elevation in Spain and the highest elevation among all Atlantic islands. Due to Mount Teide's regular volcanic activity, the island generally appears on 14th- and 15th-century maps as Dellinferno ("Island of Hell"). Interpreting this toponym in their exemplars literally, some Sfera mapmakers placed a drawing of Hell at this point in the text (Ashb2, Cap1, Luc2, LW01, Marc2).
Coordinates
28.23, -16.58
World Historical Gazetteer
https://whgazetteer.org/places/portal/8364053
This toponym does not appear in the poem, only on the maps accompanying it.
Map of the location M025

Variant spellings of Dellinferno in Sfera manuscripts

Variant Manuscripts
[...]allofern[...] Pad1
[...]l[...] New
[dellinferno?] Morg
d'linferno Ricc1
dalinferno Fo, Par2
De linferno Vat2
dedinferno [sic] Med2
del ifernno Pnc3
deli[n]ferno ME2, Ricc12
DELIFERNO Ashb3
delinfeano Fn12
DELINFER[...] BL01
Delinfer[...] Par1
Delinferno BL02, Con1, Cors2, Par3, Ricc14
delinferno Barb3, Borg, Chig1, Con4, Fn9, He2, NB, Pnc4, Ricc13, Ricc9, Ro2
DeLinferno Vat3
DELINFERNO Med3, Wie1
Delinfero Clas2
delinfierno Bal
delinforno Spe
delinfrono Ricc8
dellinferni Parm2
dellinferno Barb4, Fn8, Laur3, Laur5, Ricc11, Ricc15, Ricc17
DELLINFERNO Fn6, Pal5, Ricc6
Dellinferno MB, NYPL2
dello inferno Marc1
delo[n]ferno Per2
dilinferno Chig2, NYPL3
ferno Ashb7
infernno Cs1
inferno Magl2, Pnc5
isola dinferno Pal8
Parte dellinferno Cap1, Marc2
y[sol]a dinferno Tre
Suggested citation
Beneš, Carrie. “Dellinferno.” Gregorio Dati’s La sfera = The Globe: A Digital Edition, November 13, 2026. https://la-sfera-staging-a8db029690a6.herokuapp.com/toponyms/dellinferno/.