Vita nuova cover

Vita nuova

by Dante Alighieri

Part love story, part instruction manual, part spiritual journey, Dante's "little book," the Vita Nuova, has had a profound and far-reaching influence on global culture and is considered by many to be the perfect expression of the medieval ideal of courtly love, as well as an essential precursor to Dante's sublime poetic apotheosis, the Divine Comedy. Now Joseph Luzzi, celebrated author of books about Italian literature and culture and a lifelong lover and teacher of Dante's poetry, gives us a version of the Vita Nuova that is fresh, contemporary, and approachable--as vital and vivid as Dante's original Tuscan dialect--rendered in a voice that will entice a new generation of readers to swoon over one of the most heartbreaking stories of unfulfilled love in all of world literature.

More by Dante Alighieri

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?