How likely is it that Dante wrote De vulgari eloquentia in Bologna and why are we interested?

Abstract

The essay explores the idea that Dante wrote De vulgari eloquentia in Bologna primarily addressing the Bolognese public, as many and compelling linguistic, cultural and political clues suggest. The first part of the essay traces the story of this idea from when it was proposed by Aristide Marigo, the first commentator of the treatise, in 1938, to when it was canceled without reason, in the sixties and seventies, in both Petrocchi’s biography and Enciclopedia dantesca, until it was revived with renewed arguments in the last twenty years. The second part examines in detail the textual clues that support that the treatise was conceived in Bologna and for Bologna; verifies whether it is politically plausible that an exiled white Guelph like Dante would choose Bologna as his residence in the years 1304-1305; and shows that the alternative hypothesis of Treviso is groundless.