Vita Nuova by Dante Alighieri, translated by Joseph Luzzi, is a beguiling "little book" of poetry and prose crafted by the 13th-century Florentine writer at the dawn of his magnificent career. This enchanting translation from the original Tuscan dialect captures the music of Dante's youthful love for the beautiful Beatrice, a noblewoman he was destined to worship from afar.
Arranged marriages were common among nobility of this era, and Dante was betrothed from childhood to a girl in his family's elite class, so his adoration for Beatrice had nothing to do with forming a relationship with her or proposing marriage. In Dante's "literary milieu," explains Luzzi, a young man expressed desire for his unattainable "beloved" through poetic discourse while keeping her identity a secret.
Luzzi (Botticelli's Secret) is a scholar of Italian culture. He shares historical and cultural context in the marvelous introduction to the autobiographical Vita Nuova, the title of which means "new life" in English. In a move that was revolutionary for his time, Dante (The Divine Comedy) addressed the poem "Ladies who are intelligent in love" to Beatrice's female contemporaries. Seasoned with lyrical imagery, it soars with praise for the poet's mystery lady. Until this departure from custom, poetry in Western literary history had been crafted solely for male audiences.
Sadly, Dante's love for Beatrice was not immune to tragedy, and readers bear witness to the maturation of his writing in response to heartbreak. To read Vita Nuova with Luzzi as a guide is a deeply pleasurable experience, a literary escape to a glorified world of idealized love in medieval Florence. --Shahina Piyarali