Abstract

The essay examines the visionary genre in Petrarch’s work, and in particular in the Triumphi. Comparing the triumphal poem to the Commedia, the paper focuses on three topoi of the visio, namely the relationship between auctor and agens, the nature of the illustrious figures observed by the viator, and the presence of a vox caeli. Through this analysis, the essay demonstrates how, despite the presence of systematic references to the visionary tradition, Petrarch in the Triumphi deprives his vision of any eschatological dimension and replaces theological reflections with the dynamics of his biographical and erudite memory.