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~ …… (oon∙poh∙dee∙PEH∙peh) Cristina writes about interesting stuff /Cristina scrive di cose interessanti

Un po' di pepe

Tag Archives: Accademia della Crusca

700 Years of Dante

28 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Firenze, Italia, Italian language

≈ 13 Comments

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Accademia della Crusca, Dante, Dante Alighieri, Firenze, Italian history, Italian language, Italian literature, La Divina Commedia

Dante Alighieri profile2021 is the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri.  Dante is known as the ‘Father of the Italian Language’.  His most famous work La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) is considered a masterpiece, the first and still the greatest work of literature in the Italian language and a precursor to modern fiction.  In the late medieval period, Latin was the only language for education, literature and religion.  La Divina Commediawas the first major work written in a language of ordinary speech or vulgare, the way people actually spoke at home. Dante combined Tuscan and other dialects, including Sicilian and Latin, establishing the modern Italian language.  Even though La Divina Commedia was written in 1308-20 the language is understandable today.Dante Divina Commedia

La Divina Commedia is a 3 part epic poem written in the first person, emphasizing the importance of salvation and Divine love in the redemption of humanity. It explores Dante’s imaginary trip to Paradiso (Heaven), passing through L’Inferno (Hell) and Purgatorio (Purgatory).  It is also a critique of famous figures of his time. The work is filled with historical, mythological and biblical references and discusses politics, religion, science, ethics and love. La Divina Commedia does not contain jokes nor is it funny.  The reason it is termed a commedia is because it is not a tragedia (trajedy) and it has a happy ending.

Dante was born in Firenze in 1265.  He studied philosophy, poetry, and was also an apothecary-a medieval pharmacist.  This is not as strange as it sounds, since nobles in public office had to belong to one of the city guilds and books were sold by apothecaries at the time. He married Gemma Donati in 1285 and they had 3 children.  Dante’s family was involved in the Guelfi/Ghibellini (Guelph/Ghibelline) power struggles.  The Guelfi supported the Papacy and the Ghibellini supported the Holy Roman Emperor -even though there was not one at the time. 

The Guelfi split into 2 groups because the Pope kept interfering with internal matters in Firenze.  Guelfi Bianchi (White Guelphs) did not want the Pope involved in city politics and Guelfi Neri (Black Guelphs) supported complete Pope authority. Dante’s family were Guelfi Bianchi.  In 1302, while Dante was in Roma as an ambassador, Firenze was occupied by the Guelfi Neri.  The Guelfi Bianchi, including Dante and his sons, were exiled. A few years later, other Guelfi Bianchi in exile were pardoned- but not Dante.  He was quite the badass in exile and burnt his bridges by writing many nasty letters.  Dante was offered amnesty in 1315, but it came with conditions and a heavy fine, which he was not able to pay.

Dante wrote La Divina Commedia while in exile and ruthlessly sends everyone responsible for his banishment to eternal damnation in L’Inferno.  He put a lot of effort and imagination into coming up with the horrible details! If Dante were alive today, he would probably be writing political satire.

Dante never did return to his beloved Firenze.  He stayed in Roma, then moved to Ravenna, where he completed Paradiso in 1320 and died of malaria Sept 14th 1321.  He is buried in the church of San Francesco. Jacopo Alighieri (1289-1348), also a poet, regained possession of his father’s confiscated property in 1343.

Firenze regretted Dante’s exile, and repeatedly asked Ravenna for his remains. A tomb was even built in 1829 in Santa Croce but all requests were refused and the tomb is empty. In June 2008, Firenze finally passed a motion rescinding his sentence and exile.  As my Mamma says ‘meglio tardi che mai’-Better late than never!

700th anniversary celebrations are happening throughout 2021, although most of them will depend on ever changing COVID 19 restrictions.  There is a website for all of the 700 Dante Firenze festivities. A few examples:

Museo di Casa di Dante has a new multimedia display and a virtual tour.
 
L’Accademia della Crusca, Italia’s fun ‘language police’ was established in Firenze in the 16th Century to safeguard the study of the Italian language.  Their website includes ‘Parola di Dante fresca di giornata’ a Dante word of the day for each day of 2021!

La Divina Commedia is as relevant today as it was in 1320.  I will leave you with an encouraging message of hope from the final phrase of l’Inferno…

             ‘e quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle’– ‘hence we came forth to see the stars again’

Ciao, Cristina

 

Statue of Dante in Piazza Santa Croce, Firenze

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‘Petaloso’

02 Wednesday Mar 2016

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Inspiration, Italian language, Parole piacevoli

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Accademia della Crusca, Aggettivi, Italian language, Petaloso

Petaloso

Last week, #petaloso was one of the top trending topics in Italia.  Just over a month ago, an 8 year old boy named Matteo in 3rd year elementary in Ferrara used the adjective ‘petaloso’ to describe a flower.  His maestra (teacher) Margherita Aurora marked his assignment as incorrect, but she thought it was a beautiful word.  ‘Un errore bello’ to be exact.  So she said to Matteo ‘Chiediamolo alla Crusca’ (Let’s ask the Crusca).Fiore profumato petaloso

L’Accademia della Crusca, literally ‘The Academy of the Bran’, is the oldest linguistic academy in the world.  It was established in Firenze in the 16th Century to safeguard the study of the Italian language. They are notoriously purist-as they should be, and don’t like foreign words and anglicismi (Anglicisms).  The name sounds kind of strange, but it refers to separating the wheat from the bran, or as we would say in English ‘separating the wheat from the chaff’.

Petaloso is the noun petalo (petal) with the suffix ‘oso‘.  Petaloso means ‘full of petals’or ‘petalous’.  Matteo and Margherita submitted the word for valutazione (evaluation) by ‘La Crusca’.  I’ve been inventing Italian words by mistake my whole life and didn’t know this was possible! Most of my new adjectives are not appropriate for polite company so I don’t think La Crusca will be hearing from me!  Valutazione is usually a long and arduous process, but they received an adorable response from La Crusca in 3 weeks.

‘È una parola ben formata e potrebbe essere usata in italiano come sono usate parole formato nello stesso modo come peloso e coraggioso’.  (It is a well-formed word and could be used in Italian like we use words formed in the same way).  The letter went on to say that new words don’t enter the vocabulary unless they are used and understood by lots of people in everyday conversation.  For example, ‘le margherite sono fiori petalosi, mentre i papaveri non sono molto petalosi’ (Daisies are flowers full of petals, whereas poppies are not very petalous).

#petaloso was one of the top twitter tweets for Feb 23rd 2016, as everyone tried to help Matteo spread it around. Margherita’s response ‘per me vale come mille lezioni di italiano’ (for me this was worth a thousand lessons in Italian!’

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