It was at the Court of Frederick II. (1194 1250) in Sicily that the Provencal lyric manner was first imitated in Italian. Hence the early Italian poets are generally grouped together as the Sicilian school. although in point of fact they were not all Sicilians, but had Apulians and Tuscans among them. Chief among their number were the Emperor Frederick himself, his son En zio (c.1225-72), his Chancellor, Pier della Vigna (died 1249), and Giacomo da. Lentino, who was one of the most fertile of all, and was regarded by Dante as one of the best of the school. These and the other members of the movement sang of love in the conventional Provencal way, adopting the ranzone as their stock poetic form, and from them the manner spread into Central Italy and Tuscany, finding acceptance especially in the towns having close relations with Frederick's Court. Thus Arrigo Testa in Arrezzo, Folcac ehiero de' Folcacchicri in Siena. and many more reiichocd the Sicilian note. In at least one writer of this class, Paionagiunta Orbieciani, there is manifest a tendency to depart somewhat from the methods of the Sicilian school, and to intro duce elements of Tuscan origin. This tendency becomes a certainty about 1200-SO, in the lyrics of two sets of poets—the one belonging to Tus cany. the other to Bologna—and both represent ing a transition period during which prothinence is given to the sonnet as well as to the ra um( r. the range of subject for poetic treatment is wid ened by the introduction of philosophical, reli gious. and political considerations, and especially of philosophical considerations as to the birth and nature of love, and an endeavor is made to improve the style by bringing it closer to that of composition in Latin. Of the Tuscan poets the most important was Guittoue del Viva of Arezzo (1220-94), a member of the Frati goden ti. In his earlier poems he adhered closely to the strict Provencal manner. In the later ones, replete with Latinisms in vocabulary and con struction, lie introduces speculation of a moral, religious, and philosophical nature, and, what is still more interesting, he addresses to his fellow-citizens remarks on matters of contem porary political interest. This attention to po litical matters of the day is stressed also in other members of the Florentine group, of whom Monte Andrea and Freseobaldi may receive a passing mention. The oreatest departure from the mannerisms of the Sicilian school was made by the Bolognese group of writers. and the best of all these was Guido Guinizelli (c.1230-76), who was the first true poet in Italian. In his better canzoni and sonnets he applies Guittone's innovations to much better purpose. and in verses combining beauty of form with spontaneity of expression he discusses the origin and character istics of love. From Guinizelli dates the dolce stil nuoro, which reached its height of excellence in the sublime poetry of Dante. The methods of Guittone and Guinizelli were adopted by the Florentine Chiaro Davanzati (e. 1230- ?), whose conception of love is, however, rather more theo logical than purely philosophical. In many ways like Guinizelli, and especially so in the genuine ness of his poetic note, was the Florentine Rus tic') di Filippo (c.1230-c.1280), who in his son nets was the first to import a humorous element into Italian verse. .More generally known to fame than he is still another Florentine, Brunet to Latini (c.I220-c.1294), whom a too literal interpretation of a statement made by Dante (Inferno, xv.) has caused to be considered as the latter's tutor. He was certainly a great fac tor in promoting culture in his own time. To Brunetto Latini, in addition to prose works and certain minor poems, there must also be ascribed the first allegorical poem in Italian, the Tesorot to. Possibly he intended this to be a sort of pref ace to his encyclopedic work. Li lirres don tresor, which he wrote in French. The verse so far men tioned was. more or less learned in its nature; of a more popular origin was the verse that ap peared in connection with the religious move ments of the thirteenth century of the Flagel lants, the Franciscans, and others.
To about 1224 belong the famous Laudes Crcaturarum or Cantico del sole of Saint Francis of Assisi, and throughout the thirteenth century there were produced in both Umbria and Tuscany many laudi, a sort of religious verse, which, given the form of a dialogue, developed into the first dramas of Italy. Many of these laudi were
composed by Jacopo (or Jacopone) dei Benedetti of Todi (c.1230-1306), a tertiary of the Fran ciscans from 1268 on. In Northern Italy there flourished a didactic poetry written for the in culcating of moral and religious teaching by clerics who stood in close relations with the peo ple, and who had, moreover. the intention of counteracting the efforts of the jongleurs that were spreading a knowledge of the French chan sons dr gcste and other profane literature. The earliest of these writers was perhaps (iherardo Pateechio (Girardo Pateg, c.1228), author of the Tedii and the Splanamento de li prorerbii de Salomone. Hardly later than the middle of the thirteenth century was the Libro of Cgucon de Laodho (Lodi), a rhymed account of Christian beliefs. The Sermon of the Milanese Pietro da Barsegape' seems to have been written not later than 1264. More culture is visible in the didactic and narrative verse of the monks, Bon resin da Riva and Cliacornino da Verona, produced during the second half of the thirteenth century. Giacomino's poems belong to the class of litera ture dealing with visions of the other world, as does also an anonymous poem—styled atro rare—which originated in Reggio.
To Northern Italy, a favorite haunt of the wandering jongleurs, belongs also at this time much narrative verse in Italian showing the foreign material of the chansons de gcste (cf. the Buoro d'Antona, almost wholly Italian in treatment), and the beast epic (cf. Rainardo Lesengrino, in two Venetian versions), thorough ly acclimated in Italy, after having passed through Franco-Italian intermediary forms. There was some writing of history in verse, but more interest attaches to Guidaloste da Pistoia's canzone on the taking of Torniella by the Sie nese (1253), and especially to a Bolognese sir rentese on the conflicts between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, composed shortly after 1280. Proofs are not lacking of the existence of a crude and thoroughly popular poetry (cf. the eantastorie), which was occasional in its nature and had ref erence to matters chiefly of local significance_ Some elements of this spontaneous poetry of the people entered the more strictly literary forms: thus they were adopted by the didactic poets of the north, who strove to popularize their works, by the authors of religious lyrics, and even by certain poets of Tuscany and the South (Gia comino Pugliese, etc.). who utilized them in their love poems. Exceedingly popular in its nature, and yet influenced by literary conven tions, is the so-called Contrasto di Cielo dal Caano (or d'Alcamo: consult A. d'Ancona. Stud] sully letteratura italiana dei primi secoli. Ancona, ISS4). which. ascribed by a misreading of the manuscript to a rialto d'Alcamo. was long er roneously thought to be the earliest Italian poem. It really belongs to the period between 1231 and 1250, and has the form of a love debate between a maiden and an over-ardent admirer.
Italian prose of literary moment did not appear until the second half of the thirteenth century. As has been said, many narrative and didactic works were written in Latin. Moreover, like Brunetto Latini, certain other Italians adopted French for their productions; thus, Ahlobrando, a Tuscan. composed in French prose his little treatise Le regime du corps (12561, and Rus ticiano da Pisa employed the same language in his compilation of tales about Arthur and his knights (e.1270) and in his account of the jour ney of Marco Polo. Italian prose was first used to any great extent in translations of Latin didactic, moral, and historical works. and of French legends of an heroic or a religious nature. From French came the Dodici coati morali. the di Cesare, the Istarietta troirma (based on Benoit de Sainte-More's Roman dr Trniel. the Tarok; ritonda. and the Tristann, all apparently of the thirteenth century, as is also at least one of the versions of the Libro dei Settc Sari.