This first volume gathers Giovanni Boccaccio’s commentary on Dante’s Divine Comedy together with his other writings concerning the great Florentine poet. Boccaccio, author of the Decameron and a devoted admirer of Dante, delivered public lectures on the Commedia and composed an influential exposition of its opening cantos.
The text is in Italian. The work reflects Boccaccio’s reverence for Dante and his pioneering role in establishing the poet’s reputation, including his early biography of Dante. The commentary explains the poem’s meaning, allegory, and learning, illuminating both the text and the literary culture of fourteenth-century Florence. As one of the earliest sustained engagements with Dante by a fellow master of Italian letters, this collection holds an important place in the history of Dante scholarship and Italian literary criticism.