Fiore dei conversi. Testo inedito di fine secolo XIV
open access | peer reviewed
- Andrea Ferrando - Università degli Studi di Genova, Italia - email
Abstract
Fiore dei conversi is an anonymous poem in refrained sonnets (372 poems) dating back to the end of the fourteenth century and preserved in a single manuscript (Vatican Apostolic Library, Chig. M.IV.99). It recounts an allegorical journey among the stars and to Paradise undertaken by the protagonist while still alive, accompanied by a wise and faithful guide, often referred to as the duca. This work presents the critical edition of the poem: the first part (chapters 1‑6) offers a general introduction to the text from a literary and linguistic perspective, and includes a codicological description of the manuscript. Within this section, one chapter is devoted to the influence of Dante’s Commedia on the imagination, linguistic usus scribendi, and stylistic register of the anonymous poet. Furthermore, the study advances the hypothesis of a geographical localisation of the poem on the basis of several relevant linguistic features, whose presence suggests an origin in central Italy, particularly in Umbria. The second section of the work (chapter 7) contains the critical edition of the sonnets: each poem is preceded by an introduction summarising its content and followed by a commentary highlighting its most notable literary aspects. The poem may be considered one of the most interesting and innovative examples of the reception and reworking of Dante’s masterpiece, the Commedia.
Keywords Otherwordly journey • Dante’s epigonism • Poem in refrained sonnets • Medieval Umbria
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-989-4 | e-ISBN 978-88-6969-989-4 | Published Jan. 12, 2026 | Accepted Sept. 23, 2025 | Submitted June 17, 2025 | Language it
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