Percorsi del classicismo dantesco nelle Malebolge

My doctoral-level research focuses on the area of Dante’s Inferno known as ‘Malebolge’ (cantos 16-30, broadly taken). Here, the definition of the Commedia’s own genre is sought indirectly, through the persistent recurrence of classical references and metaliterary reflections, which my research examines in detail. I demonstrate that in the two ‘cantos of thieves’ (24-25) Dante deals with Lucan and Ovid in two very different ways. In the first canto, the classical material is referred to as it was usually perceived by well-educated medieval people, whereas, in the second, the poet bypasses the medieval tradition and engages directly with his classical sources. This distinction (between ‘mediated’ and ‘direct’ engagement with classical sources) is at the heart of my research. I also investigate canto 28: here Dante, after the fashion of his time, uses multiple historical sources together, although the only one mentioned by name is Livy. As I point out for the first time, this happens because in late 13th century and at the beginning of the 14th Livy was beginning to be considered the historiographer par excellence and one of the most trustworthy pagan writers. I finally extend the scope of my research outside the Inferno, to examine references to Livy in the Convivio and the De Monarchia, in order to try and solve the debated question if Dante actually read or not the original text of Livy.