''Dolce Stil Novo'' (), Italian for "sweet new style," is the name given to a literary movement in 13th and 14th century

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Influenced by the Sicilian School and Tuscan poetry, its main theme is Divine Love. The name ''Dolce Stil Novo'' was used for the first time by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His '' Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ...

in '' Purgatorio'', the second canticle of the '' Divina Commedia''. In the ''Divina Commedia''

Purgatory Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...

he meets Bonagiunta Orbicciani, a 13th-century Italian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

, who tells Dante that Dante himself, Guido Guinizelli, and

Guido Cavalcanti Guido Cavalcanti (between 1250 and 1259 – August 1300) was an Italian poet. He was also a friend and intellectual influence on Dante Alighieri. Historical background Cavalcanti was born in Florence at a time when the comune was beginning its ...

had been able to create a new genre: a ''stil novo''. Poetry from this school is marked by adoration of the human form, incorporating vivid descriptions of female beauty and frequently comparing the desired woman to a creature from paradise. The woman is described as an "angel" or as "a bridge to God." Rather than being material in nature, the Love of the ''Dolce Stil Novo'' is a sort of Divine Love. Poetry of this movement also often includes profound introspection. Many literary critics have argued that introspection in Italian literary works was first introduced by the ''Stil Novo'' poets, and later developed by Francesco Petrarca.The two main concepts (introspection and love) are thus brought together as the poet enters his interior world to express his most inner feelings, which are caused by an excessively divine female beauty. The first expression of this style of writing is credited to Guido Guinizelli and his poem "''Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore."'' Precursors to the ''dolce stil novo'' are found in the Provençal works of the

troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobair ...

s, such as the Genoese

Lanfranc Cigala Lanfranc Cigala (or Cicala) ( it, Lanfranco, oc, Lafranc; fl. 1235–1257) was a Genoese nobleman, knight, judge, and man of letters of the mid thirteenth century. He remains one of the most famous Occitan troubadours of Lombardy. Thirty-two of ...

. The artists of the stil novo are called ''stilnovisti''.'''' The importance of the ''Dolce Stil Novo'' lies in the fact that apart from being the manifestation of the first true literary tradition in Italy, it ennobled the Tuscan

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

, which was destined to become the Italian

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

In Dante's ''Purgatorio''

's '' Purgatorio'' XXIV, on the sixth terrace of

, the poet and glutton Bonagiunta Orbicciani, after confirming that Dante is the poet who wrote "Ladies that have intelligence of love," a poem from '' Vita Nuova'', uses the phrase ''dolce stil novo'' ("sweet new style," mentioned for the first time in the Italian vernacular) to describe Dante's style as a poet, and how it marked a shift from the styles of poets that came before him like of Giacomo da Lentini and Guittone d'Arezzo. Dante scholars have tried to define this "sweet new style," and it remains a source of much contention. Dante, the character, claims "I am one who, when Love inspires me, takes note, and, as he dictates within me, so I set it forth" (''Purg.'' XXIV, 52-54)''.'' What "Love" means in this tercet has divided many Dante scholars, who question whether it is ''Amore'', the god of Love, or whether it is another name for the Christian God. Robert Hollander hypothesizes that the phrase can be understood in theological terms. By using Bonagiunta to describe his style as ''dolce stil novo'', Dante is presenting himself as more than just a usual love poet because of the theological significance of Beatrice. Beatrice embodies God's love for him, and she, who also acts as his guide, can lead to God. Hollander and Furio Brugnolo also argue that

Cino da Pistoia Cino da Pistoia (1270 – 1336/37) was an Italian jurist and poet. He was born in Pistoia, Tuscany. His full name was ''Guittoncino dei Sinibaldi'' or, Latinised, ''Cinus de Sighibuldis''. His father was a noble man from the House of Sinibaldi ...

, whom Dante believed was the only one who understood this significance of Beatrice, also falls in this "school" of poetry. Dante scholar Zygmunt G. Barański states that the definition of the phrase shouldn't be searched for externally as it can be found in the text of the poem itself: it is a style where form and content are in harmony, and this harmony is what makes the style "sweet." Another word for ''dulcis'' is clarity, and Dante himself believed that for poetry to be sweet, it should be as intelligible as possible. In the nineteenth century, scholars began considering and studying ''dolce stil novo'' as a "school" of poetry. Scholars, to differentiate Dante's use of the term to ''Purgatorio'' to the literary movement, called the movement ''stil nuovo''.

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{{Schools of poetry Italian poetry Literary movements Italian literary movements Medieval literature

In Dante's ''Purgatorio''

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