Dante and His Circle [Paperback] by Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti put together a collection of 15 poets including Guido Cavalcanti, Giovanni Boccaccio, Giotto, and Cino da Pistoia, the "new generation" laying a literary foundation for one of the first modern European languages. A number of the poems are communications among the poets, most of whom knew each other. This selection centers on the topic of love. Edited by Sasha Newborn.

A related book that concentrates on Dante can be seen at this link: Vita Nuova, which is young Dante's poems of obsession with Beatrice, who died in her early twenties but who had enthralled Dante from an early age. The series of poems have detailed notes on how and why he wrote the lines. This and other works helped to establish Italian as an independent "vulgar" language. Rather than the meter of Latin, Dante used rhyme, in the language that people actually spoke in Tuscany. ISBN 978-0-942208-47-4. $12.95.

Yet another book that might be of interest is Italian for Opera Lovers, a short dictionary of Italian opera terms in English. The origin of opera came from an attempt by a group of Italian Renaissance writers and musicians to recreate the lost arts of music and theater as they imagined it. The result in all likelihood has exceeded the efforts of the Greeks and Romans, establishing an enduring and beloved theatrical tradition. ISBN 978-0-942208-17-7. $6.95