The Monarchia is a political essay written in Latin language, divided into three books. The title is the Latin word for "monarchy" (it is also the Italian word for the same thing, even if in Italian it is pronounced with a different stress). The monarchy is in fact Dante’s political choice: he thinks that the best form of government is a universal monarchy or, in other words, a universal empire.

In the first book, Dante states that the Empire is necessary, since it’s the only way peace can be maintained. In fact the Emperor owns every material good and so has no greed (cupidigia), which is the real cause for wars and struggles.

The second book is about the Roman Empire: according to Dante it was founded by divine will.

The third book explains how the power must be divided. According to Dante, God directly gives the power both to the Pope and to the Emperor: to the former the religious or spiritual power, to the latter the political or temporal power. There must be no interference of each auctoritas to the other. Therefore, the Emperor must assure the earthly happiness to the man, while the Pope must prepare him for after-life happiness.

The political ideas expressed here will be later used in Dante’s Divina Commedia, especially in the political cantos (which are above all the VI cantos of Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso).

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