THE "ON ELOQUENCE IN THE VERNACULAR" BY GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

This article discusses the references made to De vulgari eloquentia in Boccaccio's works, based on new findings concerning the manuscript tradition of his Teseida. A detailed analysis of the citations reveals a significant connection with the Berlin witness of DVE (B = Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preuss. Kulturbesitz, lat. folio 437), which is divided into two parts, the first containing a Commentary by Dionigi da Borgo Sansepolcro on Valerio Massimo's Factorum ac dictorum memorabilium libri and the second Dante's Monarchy and DVE. A careful examination of B confirms what has already been suggested by some scholars, i.e. the non-uniform origins of the codex and the separate dating of the two sections. Thanks to this evidence, together with elements external to the tradition, new theories can be formulated regarding the circulation of DVE in the early 14th century and the possibility that Boccaccio may have studied the text while training in Naples.