Il Fior di Virtù

Fleur de vertu

This collection of morally edifying literature is inspired by texts from Gilles de Rome (ca. 1243–1316, Thomas Aquinas (1225–74), and the Convivio by Dante Alighieri (ca. 1265–1321), an unfinished work written between 1304 and 1307 representing a vernacular Italian encyclopedic work on the subjects of philosophy, politics, linguistics, science, astronomy, and history. Both Gilles de Rome and Thomas Aquinas were respected Scholastic philosophers and theologians while Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, was arguably the most influential literary figure of the Middle Ages and modelled himself on such Scholastics. Together, they represent a Holy Trinity of authoritative medieval writers of moralizing literature who had a far-reaching impact on European society.
Each chapter of the work addresses a vice or virtue, which is first defined before it is addressed by the opinions of various philosophers or quotes from the Bible. A story presenting an example of this virtue or vice, usually in the form of allegory, completes each chapter. This text, written in strongly dialectal Italian, is believed to be the work of Tommaso Gozzadini (1260-1329), a notary from Bologna, but the debate among researchers concerning the provenance of the manuscript remains unresolved.