Guittone d'Arezzo
Fra Guittone d'Arezzo (* around 1250 in Santa Firmina near Arezzo , † 1294 in Florence ) was an Italian poet and member of the Frati gaudenti .
He had received a scholarly education and, in addition to Latin, also understood Provencal , French and Spanish , and used the borrowings in his writings. After leading a fairly free life in his youth, he entered the order of the Cavalieri or Frati gaudenti and from then on devoted himself entirely to the task of ennobling the spirit of this order and of preaching against the Aretines . Robbed of his property by an unjust verdict, he left Arezzo and founded the Camaldolese monastery degli Angioli in Florence in 1293 .
He is mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy in Canto 24 of the Purgatory (verses 55-57):
- "O brother," he said, "now I see the knot / that kept the notary and Guitton and me away / of the new sweet style that I hear ..." ("O frate, issa vegg'io", diss'elli , «Il nodo / che 'l Notaro e Guittone e me ritenne / di qua dal dolce stil novo ch'i' odo! ...»)
His works, consisting of sonnets (he gave this form of poetry its current regular form), canzons and poetic letters, were first printed in the "Rime antiche" (Florence 1527).
L. Valeriani (Florence 1828, 2 vol.) Obtained a special edition corrected and enlarged from manuscripts; a more recent one appeared in 1867. We still have a number of letters from G., the oldest in Italian (Rome 1745). Cf. Romanelli, Di G. e delle sue opere (Campobasso 1875); Koken, Guittones von Arezzo poetry etc. (Leipzig 1886).
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Guittone d'Arezzo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fra Guittone d'Arezzo (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1250 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Santa Firmina near Arezzo |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1294 |
| Place of death | Florence |