Question

I'm not an agent, but I can tell you there would not be a copyright issue unless you quote directly from one of the English translations that are under copyright.

It's an interesting idea, by the way.

Answer: (Sorry. Too many episodes of The Office. Couldn't resist.)
All stories have been written, re-written, twisted, turned inside out...we all pretty much get our ideas from SOMEWHERE. Just don't make it as obvious as Eragon, which was the biggest plagarism of Lord of The Rings, if ever plagarism existed.
I'd see how much you can change, perhaps using Dante's as nothing more than a jumping off point for your imagination.

As alleycat mentioned, it should be fine. It's well past the limit for copyrit and actually sounds like a cool idea.

It's not uncommon to see works based on Jane Austen's books and characters (Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife, Clueless, etc) - just to throw out an example of people using work that the copyright has expired on.

All stories have been written, re-written, twisted, turned inside out...we all pretty much get our ideas from SOMEWHERE. Just don't make it as obvious as Eragon, which was the biggest plagarism of Lord of The Rings, if ever plagarism existed.

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Too true! Ugh, I don't like Eragon. I'm reading it, but it's not my fav.

What's really sad about the whole Eragon madness is the movie and what happened to the main character in real life.
It was his first big break.
And it destroyed his career.
He quit high school to play the role, with the promise of a sequel to boot.
Now, no one wants to do a sequel, and he's doing contruction--roof repair--another kicked-to-the-curb victim of Hollywood.