OVERVIEW

The main task of philology is to verify if a text has come to us in the form in which the author composed it; at the center of the interest of the discipline is therefore the text and the topic of its authenticity. Medieval and humanistic philology deals, more specifically, with the Latin texts composed in the Middle Ages and Humanism.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with the tools that allow them to refine their knowledge of history and textual criticism, with specific reference to medieval and humanistic Latin texts, both at a theoretical and practical level through the explanation and analysis of concrete cases related to particular texts and kinds of text. The aims of the course, more specifically, are the following: develop the ability to analyze and evaluate the tradition of the texts and to relate it to the different historical and cultural contexts in which it has been formed; put the student in contact with criticism, with the methodologies of medieval and humanistic philology, with scientific literature and with the tools of literary and philological research.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Attendance and active participation in the proposed training activities and individual study will allow the student to:

• know the fundamental elements of philology and, more specifically, of medieval and humanistic Latin philology;

• know how to read any critical edition;

• know the main issues related to the critical edition of a medieval or humanistic commentary on other texts;

• know the manuscript tradition of some specific texts composed in the Middle Ages or in Humanism;

• know how to insert these texts in the correct historical-cultural context;

• know the main bibliographic tools that can be of support during the preparation of a critical edition;

• acquire a sufficient knowledge of the philological vocabulary.

PREREQUISITES

Knowledge (even basic) of Latin language and good knowledge of Latin and Italian literature of the Middle Ages and Humanism.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons will be held in presence only. Attendance, although not compulsory, is recommended. It is possible that some lectures will be held in seminar form by experts in the subject.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

1. The essential aspects of medieval and humanistic philology will be illustrated: what is medieval and humanistic philology and what does it deal with; appearance and diffusion of manuscripts and printed books in the Middle Ages and Humanism; Latin in the Middle Ages and Humanism and its relationship with the vernacular; the critical edition of medieval and humanistic texts;

2. the critical edition of medieval and humanistic commentaries. The general aspects will be exposed and the specific cases of the commentaries on the Poetria nova by Goffredo de Vino Salvo and the Rhetorica ad Herennium will be explained, with particular attention to the tradition of the texts and the solution of particularly significant textual problems.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Notes that will be available in the specific reserved area of the University website;
• Guizzardo da Bologna, Recollecte super Poetria magistri Gualfredi, Fiorini, Verona 2013;
• D. Losappio, Un nuovo testimone (frammentario) del commento di Guizzardo da Bologna alla Poetria nova, «Spolia», n.s., 6/1 (2020), pp. 110-128;
• D. Losappio, Il commento di Bartolomeo da San Concordio alla Poetria nova: alcuni appunti, in Le poetriae del medioevo latino: modelli, fortuna, commenti, a cura di G.C. Alessio – D. Losappio, Edizioni Ca' Foscari, Venezia 2018, pp. 129-163;
• D. Losappio, La recitatio nella Poetria nova. Prime indagini sull'antica esegesi italiana, «Maia», 73 (2021), pp. 632-650;
• D. Losappio, Ancient Rhetoric and the Early "Italian" Commentaries on the Poetria nova, in Brill's Companion to the Reception of Ancient Rhetoric, edited by S. Papaioannou - A. Serafim - M. Edwards, Brill, Leiden-Boston 2022, pp. 247-268;
• D. Losappio, Sul commento alla Rhetorica ad Herennium del Codice Sforza, «Rhetorica», 34 (2016), pp. 55-77;
• slides and other bibliographic material provided during the lessons.

Non-attending students must add to the bibliography described above the reading of M. Berté-M. Petoletti, La filologia medievale e umanistica, il Mulino, Bologna 2017. However, non-attending students are required to contact the teacher in time to better define the exam program.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PIA CAROLLA (President)

FRANCESCA GAZZANO

DOMENICO LOSAPPIO (President Substitute)

MARTINA BIAMINO (Substitute)

LIA RAFFAELLA CRESCI (Substitute)

AGNESE FONTANA (Substitute)

CLARA FOSSATI (Substitute)

ARIANNA MAGNOLO (Substitute)

FRANCESCO VANONI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

22nd February, 2024.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

About two or three questions relating to point 1 and the same number of questions relating to point 2 of the program. Students will have to demonstrate not only to know the essential aspects of philology, but also to be able to apply theory to practice on the texts proposed in point 2 of the program.

Exam schedule