GUIDO DA PISA

GUIDO da PISA. - Carmelite writer from Caprona (Pisa). The year of birth and death is unknown: a chronological indication is provided by his dedication of some works on Dante to the Genoese Lucano Spinola, whose name appears in the years 1323-47. Despite the apparent naivety of his writings, G. was a man not unversed in literary and hermeneutic experiences.

With didactic intentions, by translating or reworking various sources (Bibbia, Eneide, Commedia, the Cronica of Villani, etc.), he compiled a historical-mythological work titled Il fiore d'Italia, of which the first two books of the seven announced in the proem have survived. In them, «mixing and inserting for each era even the history of divine scripture», he recounted, with freshness of language and style and with a nearly giullaresco movement, Roman prehistory from the mythical Latin kings to the adventures of Aeneas. The work, among the most significant of minor fourteenth-century literature, was perhaps never completed. Two detached sections of it, I fatti d'Enea and Il fiore di mitologia, enjoyed popularity in schools. Notable for the history of Dante's reception is G.'s love for the Commedia: besides frequently quoting it in the Fiore, he dedicated to the Inferno an exposition in 8 cantos of tercets and a Latin commentary.