The Italian Language

The most important literary movement of the latter half of the XII century was what Dante called the dolce stil nuovo. While acknowledging its debt to the Sicilian poets, it added a new dimension to poetry. His theme was the life of the soul. There was new, more spiritual conception of woman, no longer seen as the daughter of Eve, bearer of original sin, but exalted as an angel of salvation, influenced by the cult of the Virgin Mary. There was a deeper intellectual and philosophical examination of love as the source of moral virtue. Two names we can site are Guido Guinizelli (Ca.1240-Ca. 1276) and Guido Cavalcanti (Ca. 1255-Ca. 1300).

In the following century, the XIV, prose is characterised by an immense outpour of religious literature, aimed at the religious education of the people. The number of sermons, doctrinal treatises, biographies of saints, particularly those of Saint Francis and Saint Catherine are testimony to the degree Christianity had become part of Italian life. Another popular genre were the chronicles: historical works in either Latin and Italian recounting daily events and which are notable for their liveliness.