BERTOLDI, GIOVANNI DA SERRAVALLE

BERTOLDI, GIOVANNI da SERRAVALLE. — Franciscan theologian, born in Serravalle (Republic of San Marino) c. 1350, died in Fano in 1445. As a young man he heard the *Divine Comedy* expounded, perhaps in Bologna, by the Ghibelline Benvenuto da Imola, whom he always remembered with affection. In 1390 in Rome he lectured on theology, expounding the *Book of Sentences* in the schools of the Apostolic Palace; five years later he is found in Florence as lecturer at Santa Croce and regent of studies, and later as a pilgrim in the Holy Land (1398). During the Western Schism he remained faithful to Pope Gregory XII, who appointed him Bishop of Fermo. He was also present at the Council of Constance, where he made known his Latin work of translation and commentary on the *Divine Comedy*, composed to extend the reading and understanding of the three canticles to the whole 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 glosses that were supplied to him”; his work, however, contains various new and original aspects, even though it freely and extensively draws upon Benvenuto da Imola’s commentary “not only for matters and events close to Dante, but also for matters of common erudition” (M. Barbi).