How to Memorize an Epic Poem

In October 2022, I interviewed Vanni De Luca, an Italian mnemonist who memorized the majority of the Inferno by Dante Alighieri. One piece of advice that he gave me before the episode was to spend around 60% of the time reading and studying The Divine Comedy. This caught me by surprise. I thought he would have said something like, “I think you should sp…