FAVA (FABA), GUIDO. - Born before 1190, died about 1250. Together with Buoncompagno, he was the most authoritative voice of the school of grammar in Bologna during the first half of the 13th century.
In 1229 he composed the Summa dictaminis and, between 1239 and 1250, the Gemma purpurea, of which the Doctrina ad inteniendas, incipiendas et formandas materiae et ad eu quae circa huiusmodi requiruntur forms part, wrongly judged by Röckinger to be a work in itself. The first chapters contain lists of adjectives to be used in letters to the pope and prelates, and the nouns appropriate to them. The Parlamenta et epistulæ, in which « the practical form of epistolary and oratorical exemplification » is taught, are probably his—the Torraca attributed them to Guido da Siena; particularly effective is the example of the contest between Carnival and Lent. F.'s work, especially the Gemma, represents « the earliest attempt at artistic prose in the Italian vernacular » (A. Monteverdi).