Interpreting Beatrice: The Critical Reception of the Character in the Last Twenty-Five Years

Abstract

A central figure in Dante’s oeuvre, Beatrice, has been the subject of diverse interpretations and enduring critical debate across centuries. This study presents a comprehensive bibliographic review of Beatrice’s reception over the last twenty-five years, mapping the principal interpretive trends and methodological approaches that have shaped contemporary scholarship. The analysis organizes these contributions into five key thematic areas: 1. investigations into Beatrice’s historical and allegorical significance; 2. readings informed by a biblical perspective; 3. analyses exploring the relationship between Beatrice and Dante’s conception of love; 4. examinations of her literary meaning, often through metatextual and intertextual perspectives; and 5. gender-based inquiries that situate Beatrice within broader discourses on femininity and medieval representation. Additionally, the paper considers alternative interpretations beyond these dominant categories. Finally, the study identifies points of convergence and divergence between critical approaches to Beatrice and those applied to another emblematic female figure, Fiammetta, offering a comparative perspective on their scholarly reception.

1. Introduction

The character of Beatrice has long been a central element in the interpretation of Dante’s oeuvre over the centuries. Critical debates surrounding her figure are numerous and often touch key issues that shed light on Dante’s works as a whole, offering important insights into their reception across time. From the question of the multiple levels of meaning that the character may embody, particularly in the tension between her allegorical meanings and her presumed historical existence, to the exploration of her role in individual works—in relation to theological, philosophical, literary, and cultural elements—the interpretative debates regarding Beatrice have always been marked by great dynamism, yielding significant contributions to our understanding of Dante’s works. However, despite the fact that Beatrice’s character has sparked countless critical discussions over the centuries, the problems surrounding her meanings and functions cannot be considered a fully exhausted subject within contemporary Dante studies. On the contrary, numerous studies demonstrate that Beatrice remains a central figure in the context of contemporary Dante scholarship, opening up new perspectives of analysis.

In this essay, I aim to trace a profile of the critical reception of Beatrice in the past twenty-five years of research, reflecting on the different critical practices adopted by scholars in the interpretation of the character. Before proceeding, a few preliminary remarks are necessary. This bibliographic research was developed within the interdisciplinary project “Make it explicit: documenting interpretations of literary fictions with conceptual formal models (MITE)”, which aims to document and formally represent critical debates in literary scholarship, through four case studies of female characters from medieval Italian literature: Beatrice, Francesca, Fiammetta, and Griselda. Focusing specifically on Beatrice, the present study contributes to the broader research on the history of her critical reception, which examines both the diverse historical interpretations of the character, and the various methodological approaches employed in scholarly analyses. The ultimate goal is to lay the ground for formal models that account for the specificities of Beatrice’s critical reception. Accordingly, the main purpose of this essay is to map contemporary interpretative trends surrounding Beatrice. While many critical analyses inevitably address broader aspects of Dante’s works (which fall beyond the scope of this study), the discussion will maintain its focus on Beatrice’s interpretations. Still, brief considerations of collateral issues will at times be required, as they remain inextricably linked to Beatrice’s critical understanding.

Among MITE’s four case studies, the comparative examination of Beatrice’s and Fiammetta’s critical reception proved particularly illuminating. As emblematic female figures in Dante’s and Boccaccio’s respective works, their juxtaposition offered new perspectives for a deeper comprehension of both characters. For the sake of brevity and to allow a deeper analysis of each of these rich case studies, the bibliographic review of Fiammetta’s interpretations in contemporary studies will be the subject of a separate publication. Yet, it remains valuable to consider how scholars have engaged with Dante’s and Boccaccio’s poetic muses. Therefore, after the literature review regarding Beatrice, I will briefly highlight some points of convergence and divergence in the critical scholarship on these two characters.

While the exposition is divided into sections, this division should not be taken too strictly. Rather, the sections are meant to underscore recurring themes and shared perspectives across different studies, while remaining open to potential influences between the interpretive perspectives presented in different sections. This is particularly evident in the case of the first two sections, “Historical and allegorical dimension” and “The biblical interpretation”, which are deeply interconnected. In the medieval context, allegorical interpretation was profoundly shaped by biblical exeges1, and this marks the interpretation of Beatrice. Erich Auerbach’s typological reading, based on the figural relationship between the Old and the New Testament, is an allegorical reading rooted in biblical exegesis. Similarly, the idea of Beatrice as figura Christi—central to biblical interpretation—is itself a form of biblical allegory. Thus, biblical interpretation should not be seen as entirely distinct from Beatrice’s allegorical reading, especially in the wake of scholars like Auerbach and Singleton, who provide a richer and more complex perspective on Beatrice’s allegorical significance. The main purpose of the section on biblical interpretation is to highlight a crucial interpretive practice—that of linking Beatrice with biblical figures.

Finally, it should be noted that many of the interpretations presented here draw on fundamental insights from prominent scholars, which shape, to varying degrees, the main interpretive practices regarding Beatrice in current scholarship. The tension between Beatrice’s allegorical significance and her historical identity has its roots in the Commedia’s commentary tradition, particularly in the wake of Boccaccio’s biographical account, which led to divergent interpretations. Benvenuto da Imola, for instance, accepts the coexistence between both levels of significance while maintaining a clear distinction between them, whereas Francesco da Buti categorically rejects Beatrice’s historicity2. This controversy over historicity and symbolic-allegorical meanings was particularly intense in the 19th and 20th centuries. In this regard, Erich Auerbach’s application of figural interpretation to the Commedia (Auerbach 1938) demonstrated that there is no contradiction between a character’s historical reality and its profounder meaning. Rather, the historical reality serves as a foundation that finds its fulfillment in the deeper meaning. Like other characters in the Commedia, Beatrice is an earthly person who reaches her transcendental fullness in the Otherworld: she can thus be a historical character and have theological significance at the same time.

Charles Singleton’s research constitutes another source of influential insights into Beatrice’s character (Singleton 1949, 1958). Among his most significant contributions is the emphasis given to Beatrice’s significance through the lens of biblical culture, particularly as an analogy of Christ. In this context, Singleton highlights the importance of Purgatorio’s last cantos in elucidating Beatrice’s function in Dante’s works—an idea that is further explored by contemporary scholarship. Furthermore, the scholar puts forward the connection between Beatrice and caritas, tracing an evolution from courtly love to divine love in the Vita nuova. This perspective continues to shape different interpretations of Beatrice, especially in the context of broader debates on the character’s relationship with the conception of love in Dante’s thought. However, these debates are equally indebted to Bruno Nardi’s work on the philosophy of love in the Duecento Italian poetry (Nardi 1942, pp. 1–88). Nardi argues that Beatrice—regardless of her identification with Bice Portinari—is a real woman, who incarnates Dante’s evolving ideal of beauty and love, within a theory of love that is developed across the Vita nuova, the Convivio, and the Commedia. Consequently, Beatrice’s significance must be understood through the affective responses she generates in Dante. This approach remains indispensable for contemporary scholarship, particularly in the perspective of Beatrice’s relationship with medieval theories of love.

2. Historical and Allegorical Dimension

Due to the influence of prominent scholars of the 19th and 20th centuries (Del Lungo 1891; Barbi 1934, pp. 113–40; Auerbach 1938)3, it is fair to say that the idea of Beatrice’s historicity—along with the deeper meanings that were eventually attributed to her character—has become well-established in scholarly debates. Regardless of whether or not scholars support her historical identification with Bice Portinari, there is a widespread consensus in modern scholarship acknowledging Beatrice’s historicity as a crucial aspect of her role in Dante’s works. This perspective significantly shapes, to varying degrees, most interpretative approaches.

Among the recent studies in which Beatrice’s historicity plays a crucial role, Marco Santagata (2021, pp. 71–113) holds a prominent place. His volume Le donne di Dante, published posthumously, examines Dante’s life and works through the many female figures connected to them. According to Santagata, it is impossible to question Beatrice’s historical existence, and she should be identified with Bice Portinari, although this does not imply that Boccaccio’s testimony should be regarded as entirely accurate. Santagata describes the few known events of Bice Portinari’s life, devoting particular attention to her marriage—the only documented biographical fact—and her family. This biographical framework is the basis for Santagata’s further analysis of Beatrice as a character in Dante’s works.

One of the main focuses of Santagata’s analysis is the motif of greeting. While this motif can be seen as a recurring theme in Italian lyrical tradition, Beatrice’s greeting stands apart from those of other female figures in the stilnovo and is notably transgressive within the framework of the social norms imposed on women during the Middle Ages, as illustrated, for instance, in Francesco da Barberino’s Reggimento e costumi di donna. As Santagata points out, not only does Beatrice look at Dante, but she also takes the initiative to greet him. What is particularly striking in this analysis is the idea that this transgressive behavior is what makes Beatrice’s actions profoundly Christian: like caritas, Beatrice’s greeting is unconditional and transcends social conventions. Therefore, in this episode of the Vita nuova (3) the analogy between Beatrice and Christ, which Dante will later develop explicitly, is already established in nuce.

The idea of Beatrice as an analogy of Christ is well-established in Dante studies, especially in the wake of Singleton’s analyses (Singleton 1949, 1958). Scholars continue to uphold this interpretation of Beatrice, further expanding it through new elements and perspectives. However, Santagata ties this interpretation to another significant cornerstone in Dante studies: the figural interpretation outlined by Erich Auerbach (1938). The foundation of Santagata’s interpretation lies in the idea of the continuity between the Commedia and the Vita nuova, as in both works, Dante portrays himself as the protagonist of a single, cohesive narrative. Thus, there is a clear connection between the Beatrice of the Vita nuova and the one of the Commedia, as is demonstrated by different references in the Eden scene that allude to the Vita nuova, and by the character of Matelda and her role as a precursor to Beatrice. By examining Matelda’s character, Santagata notes a clear parallel between Matelda and Giovanna/Primavera, the beloved of Cavalcanti who precedes Beatrice in the episode described in Chapter 24 of Vita nuova, which establishes the analogy between Beatrice and Christ. Matelda and Giovanna are distinct characters, but the idea of a parallel between them is supported by different elements, such as Matelda’s role in a ritual that recalls the sacrament of the baptism, evoking John the Baptist; the springtime setting of the scene and the spring-like connotations of Matelda; and, finally, the inclusion of references and quotations from Cavalcanti. This parallel extends into the figural interpretation of Beatrice: her relationship with Matelda is the fulfillment of her relationship with Giovanna on earth.

The figural interpretation is still frequent in scholarly debates on Beatrice and other characters in Dante’s works, but it plays a central role in one recent essay by Carrai (2021). The study provides an analysis of Beatrice’s character and traces its development throughout Dante’s writings, arguing that the Earthly Paradise scene marks a pivotal moment in the construction of Beatrice as a literary character. Carrai highlights the various functions and attributes assigned to Beatrice from the Vita nuova to the Paradiso, concluding that the apparent contradictions in Beatrice’s behavior are not in conflict with each other, as her actions evolve according to the specific narrative and doctrinal frameworks that govern different moments in Dante’s works. Both in the Vita nuova and in the Commedia, Beatrice plays an analogous role, though on two distinct levels, in line with the figural structure described by Auerbach. In the Vita nuova, she is a “living miracle”, whereas in the Commedia she is “il miracolo della rivelazione o di una verità eterna che l’incarnazione miracolosa in Beatrice lasciava soltanto presagire” (Carrai 2021, p. 131). Therefore, there is a strong coherence in Beatrice’s character across both works: she always has the function of guiding Dante toward the good. However, in accordance with the differing levels of meaning associated with figural interpretation, her role in the Commedia represents the fulfillment of her role in the Vita nuova, as she now guides Dante toward the ultimate good, that is, God.

In the context of Dante studies, figural realism has, among other things, the significant property of reconciling a historical reading with other meanings attributed to Dante’s characters. This is one of the key factors that determine its enduring acceptance in Dante studies, as it allows scholars to support both a realist and a symbolic or allegorical interpretation, without necessarily privileging one approach over the other. But, in the case of Beatrice, the tension between these two dimensions can be explored from other perspectives. One such example is Guglielmo Gorni’s research (Gorni 2008, pp. 120–22), from which emerges a rich representation of Beatrice’s significance in Dante’s works. While the scholar does not entirely dismiss Beatrice’s historical reality, he places greater emphasis on her symbolic and allegorical value, as he argues that this aspect is more central to Dante’s poetic experience. Although Beatrice di Folco Portinari may be the real person behind the character, it is more important to establish who Beatrice represents for Dante and why she becomes a constant source of inspiration in his life and works.

According to Gorni, Beatrice, whose name literally means “she who brings blessedness”, is above all “un nome di comodo per definire una storia ideale” (Gorni 2008, p. 113). Considering the identity that Dante establishes in the Vita nuova (29) between Beatrice and the number nine and referring to some of his previous studies (Gorni 1990), the scholar highlights the importance of the numerological element in the Latin form of Beatrice’s name (Beatr+ix) and, in accordance with the principle “Nomina sunt consequentia rerum”, quoted by Dante in the Vita nuova (13), states that the crucial element in Beatrice’s salvific role is her name. Thus, in the Commedia she is an “onomastic reality”, and this weakens her physical reality in the poem, as is proven by all the allegorical elements surrounding her arrival in the Eden scene. Gorni also emphasizes the similarities between Beatrice and Christ, on the basis of numerological evidence. Elaborating on the connection between numerological elements of a passage in the biblical book of Daniel (12, 11–12) and the year of Beatrice’s death, Gorni notes that Dante’s salvific journey takes place 1266 years after Christ’s death, the moment of universal redemption; similarly, Dante’s personal redemption begins 1266 after Christ’s birth, when Beatrice is born. The parallel with the biblical text shows the connection between Beatrice’s character and Dante’s prophetism, which is already evident in the eschatological content of the last paragraph of the Vita nuova but will be fully developed in the Commedia.

3. The Biblical Interpretation

The analysis carried out by Gorni is original for some aspects, but it also adopts perspectives that are common in scholarly debates on Beatrice. One of the most recurrent features in many interpretations of Beatrice is the adoption of a biblical perspective, which allows for the highlighting of different aspects of the character. It is even possible to consider the “biblical interpretation” as one of the main interpretive areas of Beatrice’s critical reception. The many studies that employ this kind of interpretation vary greatly in structure, methodology, and outcome; what they have in common is the focus on the similarities between Beatrice and biblical figures, which are further explored in various ways. Within this context, the Christological interpretation occupies a prominent position.

Many scholars allude to Beatrice’s Christological features, referring chiefly to Singleton’s studies. But some scholars go beyond, exploring at length the many elements implicated in this analogy. It is interesting to consider the case of two recent editors of the Vita nuova, who insist particularly on the Christological interpretation. Donato Pirovano, in the introduction to his edition of the Vita nuova (Pirovano 2015), provides an overview of the main current ideas that are essential for the understanding of Dante’s youthful work. Among these ideas, there are two that concern specifically Beatrice, identified with Bice Portinari: her relationship with caritas and her Christological features. In other studies (Pirovano 2020, 2022), the scholar notes that there are significant parallels between the Vita nuova and the Gospels, especially in two specific moments. The first is the introduction to the sonnet Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare (26) and concerns Dante’s claims about Beatrice; the second is chapter 23 and concerns specifically the image of Beatrice’s ascension to heaven, which is described in close alignment with the model of Christ’s ascension. According to Pirovano, in line with Singleton’s view, Beatrice is the incarnation of caritas, the revelation of God’s amorous nature. Hence, Dante is like an evangelist who must announce the miracle of Beatrice.

The idea that the Vita nuova is a text similar to the Gospels is developed to its full extent by William Franke, whose edition and translation of the Vita nuova is introduced by an extensive study that addresses important interpretive issues concerning Beatrice (Franke 2021). According to Franke, Beatrice is undoubtedly a Christ-like person, and this can be proved not only by the oft-quoted analogy stated at chapter 24, but also by different claims made by Dante concerning her beatifying power-claims that, in Dante’s cultural and religious context, could not rely on any model other than Christ. In this regard, Beatrice “is strikingly like the one who proclaims himself ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14: 6)” (Franke 2021, p. 2): she is herself the “new life”, the deep religious meaning of the work’s title, beyond the common meaning referring to Dante’s “youth”. Although many claims made by Dante throughout the Vita nuova might seem like heterodox idolatry, Franke notes that Beatrice should not be understood as a surrogate for Christ: she is the bridge through which Christ reaches Dante, incarnating Christ for Dante and constituting his personal experience of the miraculous and divine. This interpretation of Beatrice is the foundation of Franke’s extensive reading of the Vita nuova, which proposes to use the Gospels “as the model of a book written in loving memory of a person whose significance is—and must remain—central in the life of the author(s)” (Franke 2021, p. 8).

Another interesting analysis of Beatrice’s Christological properties is provided by Igor Candido (2019), who argues that Beatrice’s representation as a figura Christi, made explicit in Vita nuova 24, is already present in the first visio in somniis of the book, described in chapter 3. Building on Singleton’s ideas, the scholar provides a rich overview of the Christological features that the Vita nuova explicitly attributes to Beatrice in the oft-quoted chapters 23 and 24. He then carries out an analysis of chapter 3 and, by reading it in the light of the biblical book of Apocalypse, identifies new Christological connotations of Beatrice, claiming that in this specific chapter, Beatrice represents the Lamb of the book of Revelation. Therefore, Beatrice, as described in the dream, actually represents Christ as a judge and a redeemer, anticipating the role that she will have in Purg. 30.

In Candido’s analysis, two aspects are essential to his interpretation of Beatrice. First, he extends the Christological interpretation to other sections of the Vita nuova that scholars do not usually relate to this kind of interpretation. Moreover, his analysis relies not only on the Gospels, which are the main text that supports the Christological interpretation, but takes into account other biblical sources. There have been important recent developments in the interpretive practice that insists on Beatrice’s biblical aspects. Scholars, building on Beatrice’s acknowledged Christological features, have recently shown the great exegetical advantages that exploring a broader corpus of biblical sources can bring to the understanding of this character. In particular, many studies have explored the possibilities offered by the so-called Solomonic books, providing a new and multifaceted image of Beatrice.

A significant example of this approach is Antonio Rossini’s research (Rossini 2009), which describes a rich intertwining between the Christological and the sapiential interpretations of Beatrice. Rossini focuses on the last six cantos of Purgatorio, a crucial point in the architecture of the Commedia, basing his analysis on the idea of an analogy between Dante’s love for Beatrice and Solomon’s love for Wisdom and providing a series of meaningful parallels between the Commedia and the Solomonic texts. With regard to Beatrice, the main claim is the idea that she is not simply a personification of Wisdom. Rather, her character—a real woman, though rich in symbolic meaning—is narratologically and, above all, theologically, equated with Wisdom, acting as Dante’s personal figura Christi (Rossini 2009, pp. 13–14). This reading develops ideas already suggested by other scholars (Singleton 1958; Pazzaglia 1998), who note not only Beatrice’s Christological features in the Purgatorio, but also the assimilation between Beatrice and Wisdom. However, he adds many new elements to this interpretation. According to him, the sapiential connotations widespread in the last cantos of Purgatorio characterize Beatrice’s apparition as “una teofania del Logos-Verbo di taglio sapienziale” (Rossini 2009, p. 75). Moreover, Beatrice’s beauty embodies a synthesis of Dionysian reflections on Beauty as a divine transcendental and the Solomonic tradition’s portrayal of love for Wisdom. In this sense, Beatrice’s beauty is deeply connected to the ambiguity noted in the Eden scene, through which Dante seems to describe a mystical marriage, which is a key trait in the sapiential literature, often expressed in erotic language. By highlighting many parallels between the texts, Rossini observes the erotic inspiration that surrounds the Eden scene and the strong ambiguity between physical and metaphysical involving the character of Beatrice. In the teologia amatoria articulated in the last cantos of Purgatorio, this ambiguity points to a mystical union that remains deeply infused with the corporeal.

As Rossini admits, the main idea of his research owes much to a previous study (Nasti 2007), which proposes to investigate the presence of the Medieval Solomonic tradition in Dante’s works. Nasti’s study does not focus specifically on Beatrice’s character. Nonetheless, her analysis does offer an interpretation of Beatrice, especially in the second chapter of her volume (“La disciplina d’amore”, pp. 43–85), which focuses on the Vita nuova. Nasti argues that the Song of songs, accompanied by its commentary, constitutes the Vita nuova’s main stylistic, literary, and thematic model. As the scholar acknowledges, in the Vita nuova, explicit references to the biblical book are almost completely absent; for that reason, Dante scholars have failed to identify the deep connection between the two texts. However, this intertextual relationship can be disclosed through the exegetical filter of biblical commentators, iconography, and liturgy, since this constitutes the context in which the Scriptures were read in the Middle Ages. According to the exegetical tradition, the Song of songs describes a continuous coming together and pulling away between the lovers, as the groom continuously abandons the bride. The same dynamic is recognizable in the Vita nuova, with Beatrice in the role of the groom and Dante in the role of the bride, as the main action of Dante’s book is the search for the beloved. Following Bernardo’s interpretation of the biblical book and identifying many meaningful parallels between the texts, Nasti argues that Beatrice’s repeated absence serves as the stimulus that leads Dante toward maturation in his amorous journey, which reaches fulfillment in the afterlife. One of the most relevant aspects of Nasti’s analysis is the fact that it allows the coexistence of the Mariological and Christological allusions that scholars have always identified in Beatrice, without the need for choosing exclusively one interpretation. In fact, both Christological and Mariological interpretations are legitimated by the exegetical tradition of the Song of songs, and this preserves the many complexities inherent to Beatrice’s character.

Holmes (2001, 2003, 2011) similarly observes the convergence of numerous biblical motifs, particularly from the Solomonic texts, in the representation of Beatrice. The Song of songs plays a crucial role in the Eden scene, where Beatrice’s arrival is greeted by the verse “Veni sponsa de Libano” (Purg. 30, 11)4. Holmes, elaborating on the many biblical references that are intertwined in this scene, shows its intricate construction and its implications for the representation of Beatrice. The scholar supports Singleton’s idea (Singleton 1958), according to which in the Eden scene, Beatrice is presented as a figura Christi, incarnating also its female version, Wisdom. But Holmes goes beyond, claiming that in this episode, Beatrice, the real woman loved by Dante, is a complex symbol that encloses different meanings: she is depicted also as a symbol of the Church, the Virgin Mary, Jerusalem, and the Christian soul, all figurative brides of Christ according to medieval exegesis, for the verse “Veni, sponsa, de Libano”5, which clearly establishes an interconnection between Beatrice and the bride of the Song of Songs. Through a meticulous analysis, based on a textual confrontation with biblical sources, Holmes shows that in this scene, every figure has more than one meaning, while different signifiers often convey the same significance: both Beatrice and Dante are in fact the groom and the bride of the Solomonic text. Moreover, the scholar insists particularly on the similarities between Beatrice and Mary, and draws a comparison between the vision of Mary in Par. 31 and Beatrice’s arrival in the Earthly Paradise, stating that Mary is a fulfillment of Beatrice.

4. Between eros and caritas

Recent developments in biblical interpretations of Beatrice attest to the scholarly focus on both the erotic language pervading many passages of Dante’s works and the conception of love underlying these passages. Paola Nasti, for instance, by stating that there is a deep interconnection between the Vita nuova and the Song of songs cum glossa, describes the whole Vita nuova as a journey through which Dante, facing Beatrice’s continuous absence, matures his love for her. In this particular context, Nasti’s interpretation owes much to William of Saint-Thierry’s exegesis on the Song of songs. According to the commentator, the groom’s abandonments are the steps through which the soul is educated to the passage from carnal love to rational love and, finally, to spiritual love. Similarly, Dante, through Beatrice’s absence, must learn the real selfless nature of love, and, most importantly, must learn to discipline it through the use of reason. By the end of the Vita nuova, after the “mirabile visione”, Dante has finally disciplined his love and has reached its highest degree, spiritual love, becoming capable of receiving the transcendent truths mediated through Beatrice (Nasti 2007, pp. 60–61, 83–84).

The definition of love and its effects is a crucial issue in Dante’s intellectual and cultural context. Consequently, Beatrice’s critical interpretation is often intertwined with reflections on the conception of love in Dante’s thought. Many studies examine Beatrice’s connection with the doctrine of love within the romance poetic tradition and the broader context of the medieval philosophy of love. These studies explore in different ways both the significance of the medieval mystical concept of love, and the idea of love as a redemptive force in Beatrice’s representation. As noted above, this line of research is deeply indebted to Bruno Nardi’s fundamental study on the subject (Nardi 1942), which provides a thorough analysis of Dante’s philosophy of love. Nardi’s work not only illuminates this complex topic but also highlights the significance of examining Beatrice through the emotions she evokes in Dante (Nardi 1942, pp. 34–44). This constitutes a widely adopted approach in contemporary scholarship. An example of this kind of approach is a study by Paolo Cherchi (2004). His starting point is troubadour love poetry, and the connection it establishes between love and virtue (specifically, the virtue of mezura). According to Cherchi, Dante replaces the troubadour virtue of mezura with the virtue of sapientia, and this marks his departure from the troubadour conception of love. In order to describe this renewal, Cherchi focuses, among other things, on Dante’s “poesia della loda” and, specifically, on the sonnet Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare. The scholar highlights the importance of the qualification of “onesta” attributed to Beatrice, and, drawing upon the Convivio (4, 4.9–10) and Ciceronian sources, such as De finibus and De officiis, argues that Beatrice’s “onestade” should be understood as the pure beauty in its identification with the good, which is not desired, but intellectually loved. Dante’s love for Beatrice thus loses its erotic features, for Beatrice, with her features of divine presence, is the incarnation of the good and the beautiful. Therefore, the Vita nuova describes a refinement from erotic love to selfless love, which rejoices in itself and generates virtue: sexual love is just an initial inclination that the beloved’s “onestade” turns into virtue.

The idea that the Vita nuova describes a process of perfecting love is well-established in Dante studies, with Singleton as one of its most prominent supporters (Singleton 1949). According to the American scholar, the Vita nuova describes a gradual revelation of the true nature of love, moving from the courtly concept of love to the Christian concept of caritas, transcending the conflict between love directed toward a woman and love directed toward God. Among recent scholars, this idea is supported by Donato Pirovano (2015) and has important implications on his interpretation of Beatrice. As stated in Vita nuova 21, 1, Beatrice has the power to create love out of nowhere, and, as expressed in chapter 24, she identifies with love itself. On this basis, Pirovano contends that Dante achieves in the Vita Nuova a synthesis of eros and caritas—two ostensibly antithetical forms of love. The scholar does not agree with Nasti’s view, according to which the Vita nuova is an attempt to rewrite the Song of songs followed by its commentary. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that this synthesis of eros and caritas is mediated by the Song of Songs and its medieval exegesis, wherein divine love manifests itself precisely within the amorous relationship between man and woman. In this context, Beatrice is the very incarnation of caritas, a revelation of divine love which manifests itself gradually to Dante in his human and personal journey. However, this does not mean that the Vita nuova is an itinerarium mentis in Deum: rather, it describes a human journey toward discovering beatific love as mediated through Beatrice within earthly existence. Dante’s journey to God is described only in the Commedia, since the Vita nuova is circumscribed by Beatrice’s miraculous vision.

The reflection on the nature of love is crucial in the Commedia and is systematically explored in the central cantos of the Purgatorio. Matteo Vinti (2020) delves deeply into this subject. With regard to Beatrice, the scholar focuses on her arrival in the Eden scene, seeking to understand the significance of the encounter with Beatrice within the broader framework of Dante’s thought on love. In agreement with other scholars (Singleton 1958; Mazzoni 1965), Vinti observes that in the Eden scene, Beatrice’s arrival is framed by elements that link the episode with the tradition regarding the second coming of Christ (the parousia). Thus, Beatrice, in the Commedia, is a transfiguration and fulfillment of the woman who was the central figure of the Vita nuova. Vinti also examines Beatrice’s rebuke, which reveals that love toward her was not an end in itself; otherwise, she would have been an object of love like any other woman. Rather, it functioned as a bridge leading toward true love. Among the many elements that support this interpretation, the moment in which Dante sees the Griffin reflected in Beatrice’s eyes (Purg. 31, 118–26) is particularly suggestive, as it reveals that love between Dante and Beatrice is directed toward divine love. After analyzing the various symbolic meanings that the Eden cantos seem to attribute to Beatrice (Christ, the Church, Theology, Gratia santificans etc.), Vinti concludes that while each one of these interpretations highlights a certain truth about Beatrice, none of them is fully adequate. Rather, Beatrice in these cantos represents herself, Bice Portinari who has become a blessed soul. More significantly, Beatrice persists throughout the Commedia as both the historical woman Dante loved and the embodiment of caritas, demonstrating how to overcome attachment to contingent goods in the journey toward the absolute Good.

These studies highlight the spiritual dimension of Dante’s love for Beatrice. While they recognize Beatrice’s historical reality as Dante’s earthly beloved, they tend to minimize the erotic implications of this love, focusing instead on its spiritual evolution. In this regard, Lino Pertile (2003) offers some insightful comments on the earthly aspect of Dante’s love for Beatrice, carrying out an analysis of the representation of earthly love in the Commedia. According to Pertile, something is lacking in the depiction of earthly love in the poem: while it presents a case of condemned love (Francesca) and reformed love (Guinizzelli), it does not feature an exemplary case of the perfect love, which has no place in the Commedia, not even in the heaven of Venus. The scholar acknowledges that the language of desire, often bearing erotic connotations, permeates the Paradiso, but it is employed in a mystical sense, rather than in a positive representation of carnal love.

Pertile highlights a passage that reveals an important aspect regarding Beatrice in the Paradiso. In canto 10, Dante, arriving in the heaven of Sun, expresses his gratitude to God and momentarily forgets about Beatrice, who smiles at this oblivion6. As Pertile notes, this episode corrects Dante’s forgetfulness condemned by Beatrice in the Earthly Paradise (Purg. 30–31). In fact, Dante should forget Beatrice if this means turning to God, unlike what happened after Beatrice’s death, when Dante turned to contingent goods. Authentic love should transcend its initial object of desire, and this is the meaning of Dante’s love for Beatrice: if Dante’s ultimate goal is to reach God, he must overcome Beatrice. In fact, in Dante’s last words to Beatrice (Par. 31, 79–90), she is depicted not as his “antica fiamma” (Purg. 30, 48), the object of his love, but as a saint in Paradise: Dante shows gratitude, but no kind of earthly feeling toward her.

Pertile’s essay was published in the volume Dante for the new millennium. Interestingly enough, in this volume, Pertile’s study is followed by an essay by Regina Psaki (2003), which presents a quite different perspective regarding Beatrice as an object of desire. Psaki maintains that Dante’s love for Beatrice retains its erotic connotations even in Paradiso, arguing that, through her figure, the poet achieves a unique synthesis of sexual and divine love. The scholar observes that both the Vita nuova and the Commedia provide clues that show the intense sexual desire that characterizes Dante’s love. Nonetheless, Dante scholarship tends to suppress this sexual component, desexualizing Dante’s works and thereby neglecting one of Dante’s most important poetic achievements. The erotic language that pervades the Paradiso, even when it has mystical connotations, is never a metaphor for spiritual love, but rather portrays a fusion between erotic and spiritual love. This language legitimizes Dante’s relationship with Beatrice, which is, at the same time, both erotic and redemptive. Therefore, contrary to what other scholars claim, Dante does not replace sexual love with divine and corrected love; rather, sexual love is part of redemptive love. This is one of the many apparent contradictions that Dante reconciles in the Paradiso through the polysemy inherent in poetry. In fact, as is evident in cantos, such as 3, 4, and 7, the last canticle harmonizes concepts that earthly logic would deem contradictory. Therefore, there is no real contrast between eros and caritas: Dante’s love for Beatrice leads to and joins Dante’s love for God.

5. Gender Studies

Psaki’s interpretation, emphasizing the enduring sexual nature of Dante’s desire, is quite innovative within the context of studies that focus on the relationship between Beatrice and the concept of love in Dante’s thought. Furthermore, it has significantly influenced gender studies, generating an entirely new hermeneutic approach to Beatrice that, while relatively recent, is becoming increasingly important. One of the most interesting studies that develop a gendered interpretation of Beatrice is provided, undoubtedly, by Teodolinda Barolini (2006, pp. 360–78), who focuses on how women are represented in the early Italian literature. Regarding Beatrice, Barolini notes that her main attributes are her gender and her young age. However, in the Commedia, Beatrice acquires an authority that in the medieval context would hardly be attributed to young women who were not allegorical personifications. Moreover, building upon Psaki’s perspective, Barolini emphasizes the predominantly erotic language employed in Beatrice’s representation, situated within a redemptive portrayal of sexual love.

In Barolini’s perspective, Beatrice is a hybrid figure in the Commedia: she is an object of desire, like any woman from the courtly tradition, but her voice has an authority that was associated with women exclusively in the allegorical personifications from the didactic tradition (such as Boethius’ Philosophy7). In other words, she preserves the typical female features of the courtly tradition (she exists for the poet, and does not have any active personality), but has, at the same time, a typically masculine authority. This dichotomy can be synthesized by the concept of Beatrix loquax8: unlike the silent Beatrice of the stilnovo, the Beatrice of the Commedia is characterized by her loquacity9. As she is not a personification, but rather a historicized object of desire, Beatrice communicates with a voice that is strange to her gender specification; she communicates as a man, being free from the form and the contents assigned to feminine discourse. Therefore, she both continues and disrupts Dante’s previous writings concerning her character, as is noticeable in her first appearance in the poem: in Inf. 2, Beatrice is surrounded by many stylistic elements characteristic of the stilnovo, demonstrating a continuity with Dante’s earlier works; at the same time, the very fact that she speaks marks a stark contrast with the women depicted in lyric poetry.

Barolini’s essay has significant implications for later studies, as it leads to analyses that emphasize Beatrice’s loquacity and its implications in her representation as a female figure. An interesting example of this approach is an essay by Abigail Rowson (2021), which proposes an examination of Beatrice through the perspectives of two theologians, Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Aquinas. Rowson argues that in the Commedia, Beatrice is represented as a theologian, but that this representation is not based on a historically established authority; rather, it is grounded on the persona that Dante developed throughout his poetic career. Beatrice is not a personification of theology, as many scholars and commentators have claimed, but instead Dante’s personal theologian. Although the essay does not focus heavily on gender issues, what is striking in this reading is the fact that Beatrice, being a young woman, is extremely distant from the authority that a theologian should have. Nonetheless, she remains the historical young woman loved by Dante, while her voice gains a new authority that goes beyond the restraints imposed on her gender.

The implications of Beatrice’s loquacity are extensively developed by Elena Lombardi (2018, pp. 117–53), whose interpretation presents a more nuanced and complex perspective, rather than following a unifying and conciliatory vision of Beatrice. The scholar proposes a metatextual analysis that explores Beatrice as a woman reader, following her development throughout the poem, from lyric addressee who speaks (Inf. 2), to textual construct that talks back (Purg. 30–31), to glossator and lector (Paradiso). As Lombardi states, Beatrice is “perhaps the most complex character one encounters in medieval literature (and beyond)” (Lombardi 2018, p. 117), for many elements of lyrical, doctrinal, and scriptural provenance converge in her representation. Furthermore, the fact that a young Florentine and bourgeois woman is chosen to be Dante’s guide through Paradise is striking in itself. Indeed, the profusion of allegorical interpretations of Beatrice provided over the centuries shows the interpreters’ anxiety regarding this unexpected female character.

Lombardi argues that the effective construction of Beatrice as a character takes place in the Eden scene, when, in a “post-modern metatextual twist” (Lombardi 2018, p. 119), she becomes a character who reads and criticizes the books about her own story. The scholar observes, in the wake of Barolini, that Beatrice’s crucial feature in the Commedia is the fact that she gains an authoritative voice. While loquacity is not an unusual feature in the medieval representation of women, in the case of Beatrice, it loses the negative connotation it usually had within medieval misogynistic tradition: Beatrice’s discourse shows her highest moral, doctrinal, and literary status and never employs the modesty topos that was typical of female discourse (Lombardi 2018, p. 108). Moreover, it adopts, especially in the Paradiso, masculine forms of loquacity and authority which converge into Beatrice’s androgynous traits10. These traits are already notable in the Purgatorio—where she is characterized as an admiral (30, 58) and uses a masculine vocabulary (31, 25–30, with words such as “fossi”, “catene”, “agevolezze”, “avanzi”)—but are even more significant in the Paradiso, where she becomes an independent reader of different kinds of texts, adopting masculine reading modalities, those of the academic, the theologian, and the preacher. This destabilizes the borders between masculine doctrinal space and feminine lyric space11.

Lombardi’s research shows the great complexity of Beatrice’s character: she is a real woman, who has also different allegorical meanings; an interlocutor and s critic of Dante’s work; a theologian and a preacher, while remaining Dante’s lyric beloved and the guiding thread of his works as a whole. In another essay (Lombardi 2021), the scholar further complicates this picture of Beatrice, focusing on a new aspect of her representation: Beatrice is also a comic character, in accordance with the medieval conception of comedy. This interpretation of Beatrice is not at odds with the authoritative voice she gains in the poem. While in the medieval context, comedy was stylistically a humble genre, pragmatically, it was connected with reprehensoria. The combination of humble style and stern attitude, both central to Beatrice’s representation, is characteristic of the preaching tradition, which plays a key role in shaping Beatrice’s authoritative voice, as demonstrated by Carlo Delcorno (2010). Lombardi, too, along with other scholars, acknowledges that in the Commedia, Beatrice speaks and acts according to the modes of medieval preachers.

In her first appearance in the poem, Beatrice’s words, unlike those of Virgil, are marked by the sermo humilis, which is typical of the medieval comic genre. But her comic aspect is particularly evident in the Eden scene, where in her rebuke she recalls female figures in Italian medieval poetry that represent the intersection of lyric and comic: the women of the contrasto and tenzone, who underscore from within the hypocrisy of the courtly world, exposing the poet’s artificial rhetoric, through their comic good sense (Lombardi 2021, p. 25). Beatrice’s comic aspect is connected with her use of male discourse, as was already noted in the case of Purg. 31, where she adopts a realistic language, using a technical vocabulary that is typical of the world of men. Comedy is connected, in medieval thought, with the mixture of styles. Similarly, in the Eden scene, Beatrice, with her pluralism and polysemy, is characterized through a mixture of representations: she is, at the same time, the Bride of the Song of songs, Christ, the Virgin Mary, Minerva, Aeneas, a swordsman, an admiral, a queen, a mother, and so on. Lastly, Beatrice’s comic aspect is evident in the Paradiso, where her smile, one of her crucial attributes, gains greater importance in the narrative, marking the most important stages in Dante’s journey. Through these elements, Lombardi argues that Beatrice, with her inherent plurality and comic properties, is, after all, an image of Dante’s Commedia.

6. Metaliterary Interpretations and Intertextuality

Lombardi’s conclusion about Beatrice as a comic character points to a metaliterary interpretation of Beatrice, highlighting her literary properties. Beatrice’s literary meaning and her role within Dante’s poetic conceptions have been a recurrent concern in the last twenty-five years of studies regarding the character. Evidence of this concern emerges in Saverio Bellomo’s idea of Beatrice as a metonym for Dante’s lyric poetry, in the same way that Virgil can be understood as metonym for the Aeneid, the primary model for the Commedia (Bellomo 2013). Michelangelo Picone too develops a metaliterary interpretation of Beatrice (Picone 2007). According to him, the critical dispute between Beatrice’s realist and allegorical interpretations dwells on problems that are extrinsic to Dante’s texts and is, therefore, irrelevant to the character’s meaning within the poetic constitution of Dante’s works. Beatrice possesses a reality not in a documentary sense, but rather as an artistic construct, and her understanding should be confined to Dante’s writings and the encompassing literary tradition. Beatrice’s onomastic reality is in itself in line with the troubadour and Italian literary tradition, in which the name of the beloved was chosen in accordance with the role and the specific meaning that the poet wanted to attribute to his own poetic production. Furthermore, Picone argues that there is an ideological continuity between both the Vita nuova and the Commedia, despite Beatrice’s portrayal exhibiting significantly greater complexity in the latter work. In both works, she emblematizes Dante’s poetry and poetic ideal, and provides Dante with the auctoritas he needs to rewrite the classical epic through the lens of the Christian truth. In the Commedia, which represents the fulfillment of the Aeneid, Beatrice thus serves as the central point upon which the typological relationship between Dante and Virgil is established.

The attention toward Beatrice’s literary properties is noticeable in some studies by Stefano Carrai (2012, pp. 119–31; 2017) that dwell on the interconnection between the Commedia and the myth of Orpheus. Notwithstanding Dante’s almost complete silence about it, Carrai, developing some of Gorni’s remarks (Gorni 1997), argues that the myth remains a fundamental archetypal model for Dante. Emphasizing different parallels between Dante’s and Orpheus’s story, Carrai claims that Dante presents himself as a redeemed Orpheus, whose poetry is not a purely human instrument, but is supported by divine grace. Clearly, one of the most pertinent parallels would be the relationship established between Beatrice and Eurydice, following the moral interpretation of the myth prevalent in the Middle Ages. However, what is most interesting is the fact that Dante does not create an univocal correspondence between the characters, for Beatrice is too complex a character and cannot have Eurydice’s static role. Instead, Dante auctor attributes to Dante agens and Beatrice the roles of both Orpheus and Eurydice at the same time. Both Dante agens and Beatrice descend into hell. Dante, like Orpheus, is a poet who embarks on a journey in the otherworld to meet his beloved. In this case, Beatrice, the object of Dante’s desire, recalls Eurydice. But it is Beatrice who, like Orpheus, descends into hell to save her lover. On the other hand, Orpheus loses his beloved when he looks at her, while the opposite happens in Dante’s case: the sight of Beatrice is what leads Dante to the vision of God. Therefore, Dante is a Christian Orpheus and Beatrice is a Christian Eurydice, who, unlike Eurydice, guides her lover toward salvation12.

Marco Veglia also provides a remarkable meta-literary interpretation of Beatrice, this time through Dante’s rime petrose (Veglia 2010), considering the many traits of Pietra attributed to Beatrice in the earthly Paradise scene. As Ignazio Baldelli (1992) has shown, the petroso style is a relevant component in cantos 30 and 31 of Purgatorio, but scholars usually interpret this fact as a sign of the polarity between Beatrice and Pietra. Veglia, observing Dante’s retrospective consideration in the second part of the Purgatorio of his poetic journey from the Vita Nuova through exile, argues that the presence of attributes from the petrose in Beatrice’s harsh representation must have deeper implications. Through a textual analysis that examines some of Dante’s lyric poetry in relation to the Eden scene, Veglia concludes that in many moments of Dante’s poetic career, it is possible to see an overlapping between Pietra and Beatrice: Beatrice too, from the Vita nuova to the Purgatorio, is beautiful and cruel, and her only imperfection is her lack of pietas toward the poet. But this does not mean that Beatrice and Pietra are the same woman. The main difference between them is the fact that Beatrice, at a certain point, breaks free from her immobility. The biggest and clearest overlap between the two figures is the indifference toward the poet. Indeed, Beatrice’s indifference and even cruelty towards Dante is evident in other moments of his works, such as the “gabbo” episode in the Vita nuova (14). Furthermore, in Inf. 2 Beatrice is reproached for her indifference to Dante’s desperate situation13. Therefore, Dante’s salvation begins with Beatrice’s conversion, when she breaks free from her indifference, and becomes compassionate and loquacious for Dante’s sake. Veglia’s interpretation is noteworthy, as it not only highlights some traits of Beatrice that are often neglected by other scholars, but also draws, quite convincingly, a deep and at first, unlikely interconnection between Beatrice and another remarkable female figure of Dante’s poetry.

7. Other Interpretations

It is natural that the varied framework of interpretations of Beatrice’s character includes readings that do not align with the main trends previously discussed. Among these readings, one of the most remarkable is Carlo Delcorno’s idea of “Beatrice predicante”, which adds a relevant piece to the mosaic of Beatrice’s representation (Delcorno 2010). Focusing specifically on Beatrice’s speech in canto 29 of the Paradiso, Delcorno indicates many affinities with sermons from the preaching tradition of the 12th and 13th centuries, and highlights the fact that in the Paradiso, Beatrice often behaves like a preacher delivering a sermon to correct his listeners. This behavior adopted by Dante’s guide is consistent with the prophetic and reformative aims of the Commedia, which aligns with the goals of preaching as understood in the 13th century.

An interesting approach is also represented in a study by Fabio Camilletti (2019), which explores the works of Dante and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, focusing on how both authors, in such different contexts but in interdependent ways, deal with the tension between word and image, and the problem of “rendering, by visual means, something that eschews mimetic strategies of representation” (Camilletti 2019, p. 7). In the case of Dante, this regards the problem of rendering Beatrice’s quiddity (her divine beauty and angelic nature), and is, therefore, connected to the theological debates on iconolatry and the concern with the sacrality of the image14. Camilletti considers the lack of a physical description of Beatrice in the Vita nuova, which offers no hold for any kind of visual speculation about Beatrice, but at the same time imposes the reality of Beatrice on the belief and veneration of the reader. And this marks the Vita nuova’s uniqueness compared to the lyrical tradition (especially after Petrarca), as it underscores the problem of the beloved’s figurability, the tension between representation and absence. This tension is significantly developed in the episode within chapter 34 of the Vita Nuova, where Dante sketches an imaginary portrait of Beatrice as an angel, a narrative enclosed within the unique case of the sonnet with “two beginnings” (Era venuta ne la mente mia).

Finally, it is interesting to note a very special case in the context of scholarly debates on Beatrice in the past twenty-five years. As was said before, the acknowledgment of Beatrice’s historicity today is a general trend that affects different interpretations of the character, and very few scholars, if any, would advocate for a purely allegorical interpretation of Beatrice. However, there seems to be a relevant exception to this rule in an essay by George Corbett (2023), which aims to reopen a debate that for years seemed settled. Corbett’s essay examines the controversy between Mandonnet and Gilson in the 1930s over the interpretation of Beatrice (Mandonnet 1935; Gilson 1939), and supports the idea that Gilson’s realist interpretation, which became predominant in Dante studies, is objectionable. In the context of this controversy, which actually dates back to the 19th century, Mandonnet does not see Beatrice as a real woman, but rather as a symbol of the Christian supernatural order. Gilson, on the other hand, although acknowledging Beatrice’s religious symbolism, argues that her character is an artistic creation anchored in the historical reality of Dante’s personal experience. Drawing upon Dante’s early commentators and biographers, Corbett demonstrates not only several issues with the historical identification of Beatrice as Bice Portinari but also that the concern regarding Beatrice’s historicity only gained prominence in the 19th century, within a broader context of aversion to allegory. Gilson’s interpretation is based on what Corbett deems as a rejection of the historical method, since he follows late-Romantic and psychological theories about poets. Thus, according to Corbett, Gilson’s objections to Mandonnet lack historical or philological evidence and have several inconsistencies that can be refuted by Dante’s text itself. The main purpose of Corbett’s study is to restore Mandonnet’s reading and to show how it can be more appropriate to the medieval interpretive tradition. Supporting a reading of Beatrice that today is definitely marginalized in Dante studies, Corbett’s article is valuable as it reopens a critical debate that can always be profitable, showing that no critical problem regarding Beatrice can be considered settled once and for all.

8. Conclusions

The extensive critical debates regarding Beatrice in contemporary scholarship undoubtedly reflect the complexities of her role and features within Dante’s works. In this context, various key interpretative trends emerge, each deeply connected to the multifaceted nature of this fictional character. Beyond the identification with Bice Portinari, Beatrice’s historicity remains a cornerstone of Dante studies, largely uncontested, with only a few exceptions. This fact brings to light interesting connections with interpretive practices concerning Fiammetta. There has been a strong interest in uncovering the real identity of the woman behind Fiammetta, and thus in her relationship with Boccaccio’s biography. However, due to the studies of prominent scholars of the 20th century, such as Billanovich and Branca, scholars today recognize the strong literary dimension of Boccaccio’s “pseudo-autobiography”. Thus, contemporary studies, rather than trying to establish Fiammetta’s historical identity, focus on the vibrant literariness inherent to the character, and on its inextricable ties with Boccaccio’s pseudo-autobiographical narrative. Compared to Beatrice’s critical reception, this reveals a different approach to the historicity of the character: in Beatrice’s case, historicity, particularly in relation to critical approaches, such as figural realism, serves as the foundation upon which scholars build further interpretations, delving into the rich symbolism surrounding the character, while in Fiammetta’s case, reflections on historicity stress the purely literary elements that converge in the construction of the character.

Many interpretive approaches regarding Beatrice take a highly technical perspective, using the character’s symbolism to illustrate the depth and complexity of Dante’s philosophical and theological ideas. This demonstrates that the previous conflict between realist and allegorical interpretations is no longer an issue. At the same time, the technical perspective adopted by these studies is connected to an extension and deepening of the biblical interpretation, which constitutes, as said before, one of the most traditional perspectives adopted in the analysis of Beatrice. Scholars have recently highlighted meaningful parallels between Beatrice and biblical figures, especially those from the so-called “Solomonic texts”. However, these technical and biblical approaches do not overshadow scholarly interest toward Beatrice’s literary meaning, since scholars frequently aim to investigate her construction as a literary figure, examining her connections with literary intertexts and exploring her metaliterary significance within Dante’s poetic oeuvre. This interest, however, might be not as intense as in the case of Fiammetta’s metaliterary aspects, especially with respect to the author-protagonist of Elegia di madonna Fiammetta.

The analyses provided by the biblical interpretation are closely related to another important and well-established perspective: the idea of the deep relationship between Beatrice and Dante’s conception of love, within the context of medieval reflections on the nature of love. In the wake of important 20th century research, contemporary studies explore different facets of the complex relationship between eros and caritas in the construction of Beatrice’s character. In this context, it is interesting to stress a divergence among scholars. While some of them, adopting a more traditional approach, tend to emphasize the spiritual aspect of Dante’s love for Beatrice, other scholars focus on the representation of Beatrice as an object of erotic desire, showing how Dante manages to reconcile both the erotic and the salvific dimensions in the construction of the character.

This idea of a deep relationship with the conception of love represents an interesting link with the literature on Fiammetta, in which scholars have given great attention to this problem. This shows not only the relevance of the theme of love in critical discourse on Dante’s and Boccaccio’s poetic muses, but also the different ideologies and conceptions that may have converged in the creation of the two characters. Scholarly discussions demonstrate the distance between Beatrice and Fiammetta from this perspective, a distance that can be measured by their own names. Beatrice is “she who generates blessedness”; however, she might be understood within the frame of the relationship between eros and caritas, the type of love she represents always has a salvific component. On the other hand, scholars have highlighted the sensual nature of Fiammetta’s love, not only in the predictable case of the Elegia, where the destructive equivalence between love and furor is represented to its full extent, but also in other works, where Boccaccio tries to reconcile an erotic and a salvific conception of love. In the Comedìa delle ninfe fiorentine and in the Amorosa visione, Boccaccio’s most notable imitation of Dante, erotic love is integrated into an allegorical structure which represents a salvific conception of love. However, even within this teleological perspective, Fiammetta does not have the same role as Beatrice: as her name suggests, she burns with the flames of love, remaining tied to sensual love and being ultimately consumed by it in her lovesickness, as is shown in the Elegia.

Finally, it is worth noting that the idea of Beatrice as an object of erotic desire leads to significant reflections within the field of gender studies. Gender perspective is becoming increasingly important in the interpretation of Beatrice, as scholars examine various aspects of her character within the context of the representation of women in the medieval literature. In this regard, one of the most significant critical insights is the identification of the masculine traits attributed to Beatrice, and the coexistence of these traits with Beatrice’s representation as an eroticized object: while she remains the woman loved by Dante and the object of his poetic writings, in the Commedia her voice, never heard in the Vita nuova, departs from her gender specification, both in form and content, as she talks with an authority that the medieval socio-cultural context would typically attribute to men.

Beatrice is not only a central figure in Dante’s works but also provides rich paths for further scholarly exploration. She is Dante’s primary source of inspiration, transforming his presumed personal experiences into some of the most defining elements of his literary works. Her role continues to inspire critical debate, demonstrating the enduring relevance of this female fictional character in the context of Dante studies.