La Vita Nuova

For the album by Christine and the Queens, see La vita nuova (EP).
Frontispiece of the English version (The New Life, D. G. Rossetti, 1899)

La Vita Nuova (pronounced [la ˈviːta ˈnwɔːva]; modern Italian for "The New Life") or Vita Nova (Latin and medieval Italian title [1]) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and verse.

  1. ^ The spelling “Vita Nova” is not only Latin, but was also contemporary medieval Italian in Dante’s time; for reference see Purgatorio XXX, line 115, where Dante uses the spelling “vita nova.” See also the fact that the spelling “nuova” occurs only 6 times in the Commedia, whereas “nova” occurs more than two dozen times. It is clear that, at the time, both the “nuova” and the “nova” spelling and pronunciation were deemed correct by Dante, with the “nova” spelling being much more common. As such, the proper title of this work is probably “Vita Nova.” Cf discussion on pp vi-viii of Joseph F Privitera, “A Reference Grammar of Medieval Italian with a Dual Language Edition of the Vita Nova.”