Uberti, Fazio degli

UBERTI, FAZIO degli. - Poet, descendant of a noble Ghibelline family of Florence, b. in Pisa in the first decade of the 14th century, d. after 1368.

He was a guest at the court of the Scaligeri in Verona and of the Visconti in Milan. He wrote a Canzoniere, of which some lyrics have a courtly and amorous background, inspired by genuine and delicate feeling, others of a political nature addressed to the emperors of Germany, who neglected their imperial mission in Italy. Noteworthy among the sonnets are those on the seven deadly sins and two lauds dedicated to the Virgin: the one in the form of a prayer, the second with the title: Le allegrezze di Maria. Several poems are of doubtful authenticity. But the work from which U. expected great fame is the Dittamondo (Dicta mundi), an allegorical poem in 6 books, moreover interrupted while U. was beginning the summary of Holy Scripture. The poet imagines that the geographer Solinus, whose doctrine he extensively abridges, acts as his guide in his wanderings through the various countries of Europe and Africa. The Dittamondo is a work of a geographical and cosmographical character and welcomes ancient sources as well as legends of a medieval character; nor are polemical touches lacking, in keeping with the tradition of the time. Thus there are references against the greed of the clergy (bk. II, ch. 2), the Avignon captivity (bk. IV, ch. 22) and to the emperor Charles IV of Bohemia urging him to free the sepulchre of Christ (bk. VI, ch. 5).

Lanfranco Fiore