Abstract

The article analyzes in depth the relationship between the Jesuit culture and Dante’s studies through an investigation of an unpublished manuscript collection, largely preserved in the Historical Archive of Pontifical Gregorian University and the Central National Library of Rome. In the ecclesiastical environment of the 19th century, the readings of Dante’s work were marked by a pedagogical and moral approach which did frequently soften its contents. However, the Jesuit Francesco Manera’s manuscripts show how the Italian literature of the 14th century and Dante’s production fall in the interest of a young teacher. He copied a copious number of excerpts from them and left in his zibaldoni the traces of his love for the Italian author