Inferno was the first part of the epic called The Divine Comedy and is often read alone without the other two sections. We see Dante both as the author and the protagonist of this poem as he journeys through hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil.
Everything appears to be literal, and allegorical or symbolic in The Divine Comedy. Set in the year 1300, but written well after, three separate books are included within this epic poem. Hell, or Inferno, is the first book, later followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso.
This is, furthermore, a story about a lost, exiled man who is suicidal who must journey through hell and see the fate of those around him to understand God's justice.
9 Circles of Hell
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Circle 1 -- Limbo
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Unbabtized and virtuous pagans who rejected faith
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Great poets roamed here such as Virgil, Homer, Socrates, Plato
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Circle 2 -- Lust
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Guarded by Menos
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These recipients are blown around in a violent storm
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Francesca da Rimini and her lover, Paolo, reside here
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Circle 3 -- Gluttony
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Guarded by Cerberus
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Those in this circle are to lie in a vile, freezing slush
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Circle 4 -- Avarice
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Guarded by Pluto
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Separated into two subcategories of Hoarders vs. Wasters
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Those corrupted by greed are to push heavy weights up a mountain, where the hoarders and wasters argue to no avail
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Circle 5 -- Wrath and Sullenness
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Political rivals are to spend eternity in the River Styx, where the wrathful fight and the sullen gurgle beneath them
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Circle 6 -- Heresy
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The pleasure-stricken are locked within burning tombs
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Circle 7 -- Violence
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Guarded by the Minotaur
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3 sects within this circle
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Those violent against others, where they are submerged in boiling blood
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Those violent against themselves, where their bodies become trees and they're only able to speak once a limb has been cut off
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Those violent against art, nature, and God, where they experience an eternal burning
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Circle 8 -- Fraud
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10 'ditches'
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Seducers/pimps are to be whipped by horned demons
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Manipulators of false flatteries are covered in their own feces
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Simoniacs are placed headfirst into holes, where their feet are burned
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Sorcerers have their heads turned backwards
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Betrayers are placed in boiling tar
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Hypocrites are to walk the circumference of this circle wearing heavily leaded-down robes
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Thieves are to be chased by snakes while naked
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Deceivers are to be burned in a pit of flames
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Sinners who have promoted scandal are to be hacked by demons
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Falsifiers and alchemists are to experience every plague and disease known to man
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Circle 9 -- Treachery
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The treacherous are trapped in ice in a frozen-over lake
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Satan is condemned in the center, where he is frozen in ice from the waist down
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His genitalia represent the center of the world, and is how Dante and Virgil escape hell
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As Dante finds himself in the forest, he attempts to escape by trekking up a nearby mountain. Here, he encounters 3 beasts -- a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf -- who attempt to derail his mountain escapade. We see a reflection of these beasts within hell; the leopard is 'lust,' the lion is 'violence,' and the she-wolf is 'fraud.' Within hell, we get an inverted mountain where everything once experienced on the 'surface' is flipped. The dark forest is, therefore, a metaphor for sin. Moving downward through each circle elevates the punishment according to the sin. Thus, is where the phrase 'the punishment fits the crime' came to be.