Boccaccio

Boccaccio, Benvenuto, and the First Dante Scholars: Medieval Commentaries You Can Read Today

· July 8, 2026
Boccaccio, Benvenuto, and the First Dante Scholars: Medieval Commentaries You Can Read Today

Dante died in 1321, but by the 1330s, something extraordinary was happening across Italian cities. Civic authorities hired scholars—publicly, formally—to lecture on the Divine Comedy to crowded rooms of paying listeners. No poem had ever demanded this kind of organized interpretation before. Within a few decades, four major commentaries emerged that would shape how readers … Read more

The Hidden Pun in Inferno V: How Galeotto Means Three Things at Once

· July 1, 2026
The Hidden Pun in Inferno V: How Galeotto Means Three Things at Once

When I finally understood what “Galeotto” means, the entire Francesca episode snapped into sharper focus. This single word does three things at once—and most English readers never see it. Here’s the line that changed everything for me. Francesca says: “Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse.” In English, we usually read: “A Galehaut was … Read more