Cino da Pistoia

Cino da Pistoia (1270?-1337?), Italian poet and statesman. Cino da Pistoia was born Guittoncino dei Sighibuldi to an old and noble family in Pistoia, and he studied law in Bologna and traveled in France. Cino da Pistoia and his family belonged to the Ghibelline party, a northern Italian political faction (see Guelphs and Ghibellines), but after its defeat they joined the Neri (Blacks) faction. When the Bianchi (Whites) became supreme in 1303, da Pistoia went into exile until the Neri returned to power in 1306. While in exile, da Pistoia wrote verses to his beloved Selvaggia that showed his pain over their separation, and he also reproduced situations and themes from the poem “Vita nuova” by Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

In 1309 da Pistoia was ambassador to Florence, and the following year he went to Rome with Lodovico of Savoy, vicar of Henry VII of Luxembourg, to prepare the emperor's coronation. Cino da Pistoia hailed the arrival of the emperor as the cure for the political ills of Italy, which distressed him profoundly. When Henry died suddenly in 1313, da Pistoia wrote two canzoni, or short lyric poems, lamenting the loss. From 1321 to 1331 da Pistoia taught jurisprudence in the universities of Siena, Florence, Perugia, and Naples. He then returned to Pistoia, where he held public office until his death.

During his lifetime, da Pistoia wrote approximately 100 sonnets and other lyrics. These reveal da Pistoia’s belief that love must be mutual in order to endure. Dante Aligheri, da Pistoia’s friend and contemporary, praised him, as did the Italian poet Petrarch, who was clearly inspired by da Pistoia's elegance of verse, his freshness of imagery, and the sweetness of his melodic line. Cino da Pistoia adopted various attitudes from Dante, and some of these Petrarch borrowed and perpetuated. One such attitude was a peculiar reverence upon the death of a beloved. This idealization of death marked the transition, in the mysticism of the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century), from the life of reason to the life of mystic contemplation, which was a mystic death. Whereas Dante portrays the effects of the sentiment of love, da Pistoia, with his legal background of analysis, probes the psychological springs of love and often becomes dull in the process. Like Italian poet Guido Cavalcanti, though, da Pistoia’s sorrows of love for the departed woman are forgotten for newfound torments over a more earthly lady.