The question of the interpretation of verses 116-149 of Purg. XXVI, widely debated by the critics, was exhaustively treated in Roncaglia's essay 1 of 1951. Today, Canettieri's contribution tackles the problem in a suggestive way, by means of the reconstruction of the perspective of one of the first scholars of Dante. Indeed, recognising in an unusual reading of Dante's passage the reasons that lead Giovanni Girolamo Nadal 2, alleged author of the Leandreide 3, to place Arnaut de Maruelh at the head of the group of Provençal poets in canto VIII of book IV of the poem, Canettieri is very doubtful of the identification of the "miglior fabbro del parlar materno" 4 as Arnaut Daniel.

In the presentation that Arnaut de Maruelh gives of himself in the Leandreide it is possible to find, transformed by amplificatio, the Provençal verses spoken by Arnaut Daniel in Purg. XXVI (p.184). The recognition of the Dante model gives rise to the suspicion of a different interpretation of the character of Arnaut, in whom Nadal probably did not see Daniel but de Maruelh. Other elements could contribute to confirming this theses for the XIV century poet: the coincidence of many stylistic elements common to both the stanzas of de Maruelh and Purg. XXVI, verses 141-148 (pp.190-192); evident analogies between Dante's Rime and those of the Provençal poet (pp.192-193); echoes of Arnaut de Maruelh in Guinizzelli (pp.193-194), that is, in the very poet who introduces Dante's Arnaut in Purg. XXVI; the definition of the vida, according to which de Maruelh "cantava ben e lesia romanz" 5 as did Dante's character, and finally the fact that the poet was a famous exponent of the trobar leu, a style which inspired verses 141-148 of Purg. XXVI. The latter two elements, as well as conjuring up de Maruelh, contrast clearly with the figure of Arnaut Daniel as it can be reconstructed from the author's stanzas and the documentation, and indeed constitute two of the main reasons for doubting the identification of Daniel as the troubadour of Purg. XXVI (see note 1).

Far from arriving at a hasty conclusion, Canettieri ends promising a further examination which will enable him to "transfer" the hypothesis of the "reception of the text when it was produced" and to assess the probable "interference of Arnaut de Maruelh in the moment of Dante's creation of the Arnaut-character" (p.198). The proximity of the two authors in the canzonieri c and E (p.195), as well as the presence of common stylistic elements (p.195), indeed seem to indicate the best method to further the research.

1 Roncaglia Au., Il canto XXVI del Purgatorio, Roma, A. Signorelli, 1951. Roncaglia discusses the following difficulties put forth by the critics: the change in the Comedy of the judgement given in De vulgari eloquentia, II, ii, v, vi on Giraut de Bornelh; the stile piano of the verses 141-149 of Purg. XXVI in contrast with the typical trobar clus of Arnaut Daniel; the lack of correspondence between the portrait of Dante's canto and the elements which can be gleaned from Arnaut's rhymes, and finally, the attribution to the poet of "prose di romanzi", confirmed only by the later and less plausible tradition.
2 A Venetian who was born after 1334 and died around 1380-82. For his biographical profile see Letteratura italiana. Gli autori. Dizionario bio-bibliografico e Indici, vol. II, H-Z, Turin, Einaudi, 1992, p. 1244
3 Allegorical poem in triplets, terzine, which imitate Dante's, divided into four books and composed between 1375 and 1380-82. Particularly interesting is the catalogue of the most important Greek, Latin, Italian and Provençal poets which closes the work. For the bibliography, see Bologna C., "La letteratura dell'Italia settentrionale nel Trecento", in Letteratura italiana. Storia e geografia. 1. L'età medievale, Turin, Einaudi, 1987, pp. 511-600, note 20, p.567.
4 Purg. XXVI, verses 116-149.
5 Boutière J., Schutz A. H. & Cluzel I. M., Biographies des troubadours. Textes provançaux des XIIIe et XIVe siècle, éd. refondue augmentée d'une traduction française..., Paris, Nizet, 1964, p. 32.

Teresa Nocita