The Dante Commentary Tradition


The Daniello commentary was not reprinted until 1989. Since other commentaries were reprinted (see Sessa imprints), one can presume that Daniello's commentary was not held in high regard by Renaissance readers. But lack of popularity does not necessarily reflect lack of importance for the history of Dante reception and interpretation. An important commentary on the first 29 cantos of the Inferno by the Modenese philologist and polemicist Lodovico Castelvetro was composed in 1570 but not printed until 1886.

Between the years 1570 and 1732 not a single major commentary on the Comedy was published. When one contrasts the 162 years between Castelvetro (1570) and Venturi (1732) with the 248 years that had produced fourteen major commentaries before 1570, one perceives the remarkable decline that Dante's reputation had suffered between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

Today the Dartmouth Dante Project (direct database connection), (whose editors are responsible for the modern edition of Daniello's commentary) has made available 46 of the most important commentaries in an on-line database which may be accessed at the following electronic address: dante@baker.dartmouth.edu.