How does The Divine Comedy begin in the dark wood?

The Divine Comedy begins with the narrator, Dante, finding himself lost in a "shadowed forest" (or "dark wood") at the midpoint of his life, specifically at age 35. In this state, he realizes he has strayed from the "path that does not stray," symbolizing a personal and spiritual crisis.1

The opening lines of the Inferno, the first section of the poem, are famously rendered as:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
ch’e la diritta via era smarrita.

When I had journeyed half of our life’s way,
I found myself within a shadowed forest,
for I had lost the path that does not stray.1

In this dark wood, Dante encounters Virgil, who serves as his guide through the afterlife. This journey through the Inferno represents a "false start" and a necessary, painful step of spiritual separation from harmful values before the protagonist can begin his true moral recovery in Purgatorio.12