Guido Guinizelli

Who was Guido Guinizelli?

Guido Guinizzelli, born in Bologna, in present-day Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, was an Italian poet and 'founder' of the Dolce Stil Novo. He was the first to write in this new style of poetry writing, and thus is held to be the ipso facto founder.

The famous Florentine poet Dante Alighieri considered himself to be a disciple of Guinizzelli:

The main themes of the Dolce Stil Novo can be found in Guinizzelli's Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore: the angelic beauty of the beloved women, the comparison of nobility to the sun and the rampant use of topoi such as cuor gentil and Amore.

Guinizzelli's poetry can be briefly described as a conciliation between divine and earthly love with deep psychological introspection. His major works are Al cor gentil rempaira sempre Amore, which Peter Dronke considers "perhaps the most influential love-song of the thirteenth century", as well as Voglio del ver la mia donna laudare and Vedut'ho la lucente stella Diana.

He died in Monselice near Padua.