Giovanni del Virgilio

Originally from Padua, Giovanni owes the “del Virgilio” part of his name to his work as a commentator on Virgil, although there is only indirect evidence of this work in the form of a gloss on Georgics, I 423, cited by Benvenuto da Imola. He was in Bologna from 1319, teaching grammar at a Studium, and holding numerous courses on Virgil, Statius, Lucan and Ovid. Of this work, however, all that remains are his commentaries on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and, perhaps, a further commentary on Statius’ Achilleid. He also wrote Liber Diaffonus, containing his correspondence on love with his pupil Nuccio da Tolentino, an Ars dictaminis and other works on grammar. A collection of his writings (fragments of an epic poem, letters in verse on literature) is contained in the manuscript codex Laur. XXIX 8, in Boccaccio's hand. Also included is his famous correspondence with Dante Alighieri, which consists of a letter in verse, Pieridum vox alma, modelled on Horace, and the eclogue Forte sub inriguos. His Theologus Dantes, a Latin epitaph written upon Dante’s death, is of considerable importance. In this epitaph he recalls the Florentine poet as the author of the Commedia, the Monarchia and the Eclogues, criticizing his exile, and praising the hospitality extended to him by the city of Ravenna and Guido Novello da Polenta. Information about Giovanni comes to an end in 1327, the year in which he sent Albertino Mussato the eclogue Tu modo Pieriis. According to Boccaccio morte preventus, coronari non potuit (“he died before he could be crowned”).