Instead, Dante stayed in exile and continued to work on the Divine Comedy. Annoyed that the poet had refused their offer, Florence re-issued his sentence, this time stating that his sons were condemned to death as well. (No members of Dante's family were actually executed.)
In 1318, Dante accepted an offer to move in to the Ravenna home of nobleman Guido II da Polenta. After sixteen years of separation, Dante's wife and daughter joined him there. He completed the Divine Comedy. In 1320, his daughter Antonia entered a convent and became a nun. She took the name of Sister Beatrice, after the divine figure in her father's poetry.
In August 1321, while traveling in Venice, Dante contracted a fever (possibly malaria, a common ailment in medieval Italy). He returned to Ravenna and died there in September 1321. He was buried in the Church of San Pier Maggiore in Ravenna. Soon after, Florence argued that the poet's remains should return to the city of his birth. Ravenna refused. Today, Dante lies in Ravenna, though Florence once again claims him as a native son. The pilgrim, it seems, finally made it back home.