Rappresentazioni letterarie di pietà popolare in opere in volgare siciliano (secc. XV-XVI)

Abstract

The increase of studies on the literary and paraliterary production of the medieval vernacular Sicilian language, through the publication of new texts and more precise re-editions of those previously published, is not only of considerable interest for linguistic research, but also preparatory to the literary exploration of the contents conveyed by it. Compared to the large amount of vulgarizations, already examined in detail, the original texts require a more in-depth critical examination, being the ones that best convey the peculiarities of the Sicilian culture. This article examines, through a philological approach, one of the aspects that gives originality and characterizes religious literature written in the Sicilian vernacular: the presence of elements attributable to popular piety. Therefore, a survey that examines different text types such as hagiographic poems, lives of saints, archive documents, captions of paintings, confessionals, rituals, statutes of brotherhoods is proposed. The summary of such survey offers a comprehensive framework full of ideas, which leads to a comparison both with the broader context of European culture, of which the Sicilian one is an integral part, and with the socio-cultural environment of the Island.