During a Question and Answer session, Dan Brown says
“No city on earth is more closely tied to Dante Alighieri. Dante grew up in Florence, fell in love in Florence, and began writing in Florence. Later in life, when he was exiled for political reasons, the longing he felt for his beloved Florence became a catalyst for The Divine Comedy.” (Brown)
It is to those who betrayed him and exiled from Florence that Dante gave the most severe punishments in his poem, Inferno. For Dante, exile from Florence was a form of punishment worse than death. The exile stripped him of part of his identity and his heritage.
Due to how important Florence was to Dante, every single book cover of Inferno has a landscape of Florence.