Vêtir l’humilité: de Bono Giamboni à Boccacce

Abstract

Representations of humility deserve far more

scholarly attention and analysis than they have thus far

received only by way of exception. This paper aims at

partially filling this historiographical gap by considering

topical accounts of humility in some Italian sources from

the late 13th - early 14th centuries, especially in Bono

Giamboni, Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio. In

particular, the paper focuses on the recurring theme of

“dressing humility” in the works of the above mentioned

authors with the aim to study and contextualize semantic

shifts and usages of a literal and metaphorical juxtaposition

– that of humility and dress – which already knew a

long biblical and monastic tradition.