GUINICELLI, GUIDO. - Son of Guinicello di Magnano and Guglielmina Ghisolieri, husband of Beatrice della Fratta, judge and poet, born in Bologna between 1230 and 1240, banished in 1274 as a supporter of the Ghibelline Lambertazzi, and died in exile at Monselice before 1276.
His Rime number only twenty-four, including two fragmentary ones
(v. Rimatori del dolce stil novo, a cura di L. Di Benedetto, Bari 1939): most are Sicilianizing, some moral or realistic, two are exchanges (one in admiring praise of Guittone, the other in indignant admonition of Bonagiunta), while a few, though noteworthy, are new and innovative. He renews the concept of love as a spiritual reality that purifies and impels toward perfection, thus making men sharers in the true aristocracy, that of nobility of soul and loftiness of mind. Above all, he renews the manner of singing, enlivening it with enthusiasm for the idea and with a taste for imagery, often drawn from the science of which he is master, and then clothing it in enchanted splendour. As for the themes, love is a light that enraptures or a force that conquers; yet, even while it elevates, it may cause one to forget the Creator for the creature who bears «d'angel sembianza».