Dante's Idea of Friendship

In Dante’s Idea of Friendship, Filippa Modesto offers sharp readings of the Commedia, Vita Nuova, and Convivio that demonstrate Dante’s interest in that theme.

Filippa Modesto teaches at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

‘A solid contribution to Dante studies… It carefully explores a topic at the heart of classical and Christian understanding of the good life but which is usually neglected in criticism of Dante’s works.’

Jason Houston:

‘This is a fascinating study… The book marks an important contribution to the historiography of architecture and urban planning… It offers perspectives that can inform the study of other cities.’

Giuseppe Mazzotta, Sterling Professor of Humanities for Italian, Yale University:

“At the heart of Filippa Modesto’s book lies a passion for this rare gift known as friendship, and this passion expresses itself both as a love for the concrete quality of Dante’s poetic vision and his linguistic inventiveness and as gratitude for her own friends. What gives a persuasive unity to her critical musings is her decision to map the shift from the classical, pagan understanding of the virtue of friendship to the Christian re-interpretation of it. The importance of the topic can hardly be exaggerated, and Modesto develops it with delicacy, gracefulness, and modesty.”