Italian Literature Through the Ages

Italian National and Regional Literature

• Italian literature is written in the Italian language and may also refer to literature written by Italians or in other languages spoken in Italy.

• Italian literature begins in the 12th century with the Italian vernacular starting to be used in a literary manner.

• The Sicilian School became notable for being the first style in standard Italian in 1230.

• Renaissance humanism developed during the 14th and the beginning of the 15th centuries, with early Italian humanists like Francesco Petrarca and Marsilio Ficino.

• The Italian nobleman, statesman, and mecenate Lorenzo de Medici is regarded as the standard bearer of the influence of Florence on the Renaissance in the Italian states.

• The development of the drama in the 15th century was significant.

• In the 18th century, the political condition of the Italian states began to improve, and philosophers disseminated their writings and ideas throughout Europe during the Age of Enlightenment.

• The Romantic movement had as its organ the Conciliatore, established in 1818 at Milan.

• Giovanni Pascoli, Italo Svevo, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Umberto Saba, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, and Luigi Pirandello are some important early 20th-century Italian writers.

• Pier Paolo Pasolini became notable for being one of the most controversial authors in the history of Italy.

• Umberto Eco became internationally successful with the Medieval detective story Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose, 1980).

• The earliest vernacular literary tradition in Italy was in Occitan, a language spoken in parts of northwest Italy, with troubadours (trovatori in Italian) practicing in Italy from the end of the 12th century.Emergence of Italian Vernacular Literature in the 13th Century

• French and Occitan languages gave way to native Italian in the 13th century.

• Italian vernacular literature existed before the 13th century, but it lacked uniform stylistic or linguistic traits.

• The earliest Italian literature was religious and intended to be recited to the people, written in a dialect of Lombard and Venetian.

• The Sicilian School emerged in 1230, marking the beginning of a literature showing more uniform traits and creating the first standard Italian.

• The French influence of love poetry in Sicilian School resulted in less erotic, more platonic treatment of women, and the creation of new Italian vocabulary.

• The Sicilian School poets included Giacomo da Lentini, credited with inventing the sonnet, and others like Enzio, king of Sardinia, and Pietro della Vigna.

• The censorship imposed by Frederick II meant no political matter entered literary debate, which was later introduced in Dante's Commedia.

• Religious literature in the 13th century saw a rise in the Dominican and Franciscan Orders, and the earliest preserved sermons in Italian are from Jordan of Pisa, a Dominican.

• Jacopone da Todi, a satirist, mocked the corruption and hypocrisy of the Church, and wrote poetry that showed St. Francis's mysticism.

• Tuscany, which spoke a dialect resembling Latin, became the center of Italian literature, with popular love poetry, humorous and satirical poetry, and philosophical poetry.

• Guittone d'Arezzo attempted political poetry, while Guido Guinizelli's poetry refuted the traditional credo of courtly love and marked a great development in Italian art.

• Major allegorical poems like Tesoretto by Brunetto Latini and Francesco da Barberino's works also emerged in the 13th century.Italian Literature: A Historical Overview

• Italian prose of the 13th century was abundant and varied, with no sign of literary prose in Italian, though there was in French.

• The 13th century was rich in tales, with a collection called the Cento Novelle antiche containing stories drawn from many sources.

• Dolce Stil Novo was a school of poetry consisting of Lapo Gianni, Guido Cavalcanti, Cino da Pistoia, and Dante Alighieri.

• Dante Alighieri wrote La Vita Nuova in 1293, which idealizes love and is a collection of poems to which Dante added narration and explication.

• La Divina Commedia, written by Dante, is an allegorical epic poem where Dante travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

• Petrarch was the first humanist and the first modern lyric poet, who loved Laura and celebrated her in poems full of studied elegance.

• Petrarch's Canzoniere is divided into three parts: the first containing the poems written during Laura's lifetime, the second the poems written after her death, the third the Trionfi.

• Giovanni Boccaccio had the same enthusiastic love of antiquity and the same worship for the new Italian literature as Petrarch.

• Boccaccio was the first historian of women in his De mulieribus claris, and the first to tell the story of the great women of history.

• The Decameron, written by Boccaccio, is a collection of novellas that takes place during the Black Death and has ten characters telling stories to pass the time.

• The Renaissance was a period of great cultural change and achievement that began in Italy in the 14th century.

• The Italian Renaissance saw a revival of interest in classical learning, literature, and art, with an emphasis on humanism, individualism, and secularism.Italian Literature in the 14th and 15th Centuries

• Boccaccio was a major writer of the 14th century, known for his works in various genres, including poetry, prose, and geography.

• His most famous work is the Decamerone, a collection of 100 novels written during the plague of 1348.

• Other notable writers of the time include Petrarch, who was friends with Boccaccio but had a different temperament, and Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, who wrote a collection of tales called Pecorone.

• Religious literature was also important during this time, with Catherine of Siena and Giovanni Colombini preaching reform and Bianco da Siena writing religious poetry.

• The 15th century saw the rise of humanism, with scholars emphasizing practical, pre-professional, and -scientific studies and a focus on the humanities.

• Early humanists like Petrarch were great collectors of antique manuscripts, and the educational program won rapid acceptance among the upper classes in Italy.

• Literature during this time was heavily influenced by the Medici family, particularly Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici.

• Notable writers during this time included Leone Battista Alberti, Vespasiano da Bisticci, Andrea da Barberino, and Girolamo Benivieni.

• The Reali di Francia by Andrea da Barberino was particularly noteworthy for its beautiful prose and chivalrous romances.

• Lorenzo de Medici was particularly influenced by the ancients, attending the class of the Greek scholar John Argyropoulos.

• The Medici family also supported the arts, with Lorenzo de Medici himself writing poetry and supporting artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo.