It is a world-renowned work of literature and one of the foundation stones of the Italian language, but Dante's Divine Comedy has been described as racist, homophobic, anti-Islamist and anti-Semitic.
The epic poem should be removed from school curricula and university reading lists, according to Gherush 92, a human rights organisation which acts as a consultant to United Nations bodies on issues of racism and discrimination.
The work is "offensive and discriminatory" and has no place in a modern classroom, said Valentina Sereni, the group's president. Divided into three parts - Hell, Purgatory and Heaven - the poem consists of 100 cantos, of which half a dozen were marked out for particular criticism by the group.
It represents Islam as a heresy and Mohammed as a schismatic and refers to Jews as greedy, scheming moneylenders and traitors, Miss Sereni said.
"The Prophet Mohammed was subjected to a horrific punishment - his body was split from end to end so that his entrails dangled out, an image that offends Islamic culture," she said.
Homosexuals are damned by the work as being "against nature" and condemned to an eternal rain of fire in Hell.
"We do not advocate censorship or the burning of books, but we would like it acknowledged, clearly and unambiguously, that in the Divine Comedy there is racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic content," Miss Sereni added.
Schoolchildren and university students lack "the filters" to appreciate the work's historical context and were being fed a poisonous diet of racism, the group said. It called for it to be removed from schools and universities or at least have its more offensive sections fully explained.
Academics and gay rights groups have leapt to Dante's defence. Giorgio Rembado, president of an Italian head teachers' association, said banning the Divine Comedy would be "senseless". Franco Grillini, of Gaynet, a gay rights' organisation, said the suggestion that Dante's work should be prohibited marked "an excess of political correctness".
