Sicilian School

In a literary context, the term Sicilian School identifies a small community of Sicilian, and to a lesser extent, mainland Italian poets gathered around Frederick II, most of them belonging to his court, the Magna Curia. Headed by Giacomo da Lentini, they produced more than three-hundred poems of courtly love between 1230 and 1266, the experiment being continued after Frederick's death by his son, Manfredi. This school included Enzo, king of Sardinia, Pier delle Vigne, Inghilfredi, Guido and Odo delle Colonne, Jacopo d'Aquino, Giacomino Pugliese, Giacomo da Lentini, Arrigo Testa and Frederick II himself.

The work of a roving school

"It is lyric poetry to be in the forefront of literature, inspiring a widespread enthusiam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

whose effects will be felt for centuries. The initial boost given by the Sicilian poets from the Svevs' court, the first to use a standardised vernacular to make art poetry will be passed on to many others: and all of them, not just the pedantic imitators of the

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Siculo-Tuscan school but also Guinizzelli, the poets of Dolce Stil Novo and more widely all writers of verse, will have to deal, though by different degrees, with the Sicilian models, so that some peculiarities will be assimilated into standard usage of Italian poetry." (Bruno Migliorini, Storia della letteratura italiana)

Related Topics:
Guinizzelli - Dolce Stil Novo - Italian poetry

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Though yet confined to a few notaries and dignitaries of the emperors, such poetry shows for the first time uniform linguistic traits and a richness in vocabulary far exceeding that of the Sicilian dialect(s) by which it was inspired. TheMagna curia was not based in any given city, but always moving across Southern Italy, a fact which helped the school avoid the temptation of choosing any local dialect as the starting point for their new language. That is why the new standard turned up to be a koinè, a melting pot of many different vernaculars.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~