BERTOLDI, GIOVANNI DA SERRAVALLE

BERTOLDI, GIOVANNI da SERRAVALLE. – Franciscan Dante scholar, born at Serravalle (Republic of S. Marino) around 1350, died at Fano in 1445. As a young man he heard the Commedia explained, perhaps at Bologna, by the Ghibelline Benvenuto da Imola, whom he always remembered with affection. In 1390, at Rome, as a lecturer in theology, he expounded the Book of Sentences in the schools of the Apostolic Palace; five years later we find him at Florence, lecturer at S. Croce and regent of studies, and subsequently a pilgrim in the Holy Land (1398). During the Western Schism he remained faithful to Pope Gregorio XII, who appointed him bishop of Fermo. He was also present at the Council of Constance; on that occasion he made known his Latin work of translation and commentary on the Commedia, composed by him to extend the reading and understanding of the three cantiche to the entire Christian world. In 1419 he was transferred to the episcopal see of Fano, where he remained until his death. Foscolo suspected that B. “compiled the churches that were supplied to him”; his work, however, has various new and original aspects, even though it draws freely and extensively on Benvenuto da Imola’s commentary “not only for persons and events close to Dante, but also for matters of common erudition” (M. Barbi).