La nobiltà di Guinizzelli : dalla polemica antiguittoniana al "cor gentil"

The first part of this work focuses on the relations between Guido Guinizzelli and Guittone d'Arezzo, Italian poets lived in the XIII century. The aim is to display that Guittone's sonnet 'S'eo tale fosse' is a clear criticism of Guinizzelli, guilty of comparing his lady to natural forms instead of declaring her superior to them, as the lyrical tradition had estabilished, and that Guido's sonnet 'Omo ch'è saggio' contains a polemical allusion to the 'frati gaudenti', the religious order - composed exclusively by noblemen - which Guittone had entered as a married friar. Moving from this consideration, the second part of the work shows that the topic of nobility, discussed by Guinizzelli in his canzone 'Al cor gentil', can not be considered as a mere commonplace, but must be related to a political and social debate that was fervent at those times (especially in the city of Bologna, where the 'gaudenti' had born) and involved the 'gaudenti' too. The analysis of this theme in connection with the two poets is preceded by a close examination and a deep study on the concept of nobility - from the classics to the troubadours, from the court of Frederic II to the medieval law tradition - and concluded by a chapter focused on the development of the debate in Bologna (civic and guild statutes, a new study on birth, ideology, growth and on the function of the order of 'frati gaudenti'). An appendix is dedicated to Guinizzelli's sonnet 'Chi vedesse a Lucia un var capuzzo', which portrays the poet dreaming about a rape (but suddenly repenting); a comparison with a sentence written by Guido just on a case of rape (as it is known, Guinizzelli was a judge) allows to infer an influence of law language and mentality on the sonnet's style.