Abstract

Petrarch attended to write the De vita solitaria from 1346 to 1366, when he sent the dedication copy to Philippe of Cabassole; urged by the abbot of Camal- doli, he later resumed the work on this treatise and added the literary por-trait of saint Romualdus. Notwithstanding the impressive number of man- uscripts of the De vita solitaria, the discovery of the dedication copy sent to Philippe of Cabassole (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, 9633) solved the many problems to be faced in view of the constitutio textus. Anyway, some other manuscripts have to be taken into consideration: Città del Vaticano, Bib- lioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 3357, which was written during Petrarch’s lifetime and whose marginal notes witness a dialogue between the author and an anonymous keen reader (perhaps Donato Albanzani), and Firenze, Biblio- teca Laurenziana, Plut. 26 sin. 8, copied by Tedaldo Della Casa. Moreover, a careful analysis of Petrarch’s sources is of paramount importance in establish- ing proper textual choices for the critical edition.