Introduction: The Main Assets Included in the OPOB

The OPOB includes Ettore Modigliani’s diplomatic edition of the Rerum vulgarium fragmenta; Gianfranco Contini’s and Giuseppe Savoca’s critical editions; the cod. Queriniano D II 21; the Inc. Queriniano G V 15; Alessandro Vellutello’s commentary; complete English, Spanish and French translations and partial translations in Russian, Chinese, Japanese and German.

The ideal reader may read Petrarch’s Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (Rvf) starting from the Diplomatic edition of the last manuscript on which Petrarch was working at the time of his death, the Cod. Vatican Latin 3195. Next, he or she may read the text in the manuscript tradition represented by the cod. Queriniano D II 21, one of the most precious witnesses of the history of the Rvf, witnessing the pre-definitive form. The manuscript has been transcribed and the reader may read the digital copy along with transcriptions of the poems. Then, the ideal reader may experience the reading of the earliest printed edition of the Rvf, published in Venice in 1470 by Vindelin de Spira (Inc. Queriniano G V 15). It is a unique and marvelous edition of the Rvf including extensive illustrations that serve as elaborate visual glosses of fundamental natural and psychological motifs in the poems. The marginalia handwritten glosses are another unique feature of this edition. The written glosses and the illustrations are integrated and provide a remarkable and exceptional interpretation of the Rvf. These readings may be complemented with and compared to modern commentaries such as Vellutello’s, recent critical editions such as Contini’s and Savoca’s, the Spanish and French translations by Enrique Garcés and Vasquin Philieul (16th century), a contemporary English translation (A. S. Kline), and partial translations in Russian, Chinese, Japanese and German. Finally, the reader may decide to experience the text along with intersemiotic transpositions, including artworks and musical renderings. For a list of the assets available in this area go to the link Archives in the Apparatus menu.

Other readers might be interested in reading the Rvf in tweet format. They will find in the Apparatus menu 366 tweets, one for each poem. The tweets are conceived as interpretations of the poems. They were produced by a group of students (see a complete list in the Credits link) coordinated by Massimo Lollini. Along with the tweets, the readers will find in the Apparatus menu, paraphrases and summaries for each poem of the Rvf.

In the OPOB we use the original title of Petrarch masterpiece: Rerum vulgarium fragmenta (Scattered things in the vernacular) attested by Petrarch’s partially autograph manuscript Vat. Lat. 3195 where one may read the incipit: Francisci Petrarce laureate poete Rerum vulgarium fragmenta. The term “Canzoniere” does not appear in any manuscript and should not be used. It occurred for the first time in the colophon of the edition princeps of Girolamo Squarzafico’s commentary of the Rvf (1483):

 Finis dil canzionero di Franciesco Petrarcha per maistro Piero cremoneso dicto
veroneso im|presso in Venesia adì 18 del meso de augusto M.cccclxxxiiii. (Scarpa 107)

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