“An ample and very poetical narrative”: the vicissitudes of “La Pia” between the literary and oral traditions

Abstract

In the nearly seven hundred years since Dante's Purgatorio first appeared, the story of “La Pia” (Purgatorio V, 130-136), a Sienese woman who died under mysterious circumstances in the Maremma region, has generated much speculation as to her identity and the possible reasons for Dante's having situated this courteous but cryptic soul amongst the negligenti of antePurgatorio. These seven scant lines, placed at the very end of Canto V of Purgatorio, continue to give rise not only to a plethora of commentaries, but also to a significant body of creative works that have expanded, elaborated and explored the fragmentary history of Pia. This paper concentrates on the circulation and dissemination of theatrical works drawing on the Pia story in the 19th and 20th centuries, with special emphasis on the Tuscan maggio, a form of sung popular theatre still performed in northwestern Tuscany today. There, La Pia is known to Maggio audiences, as indeed she was to Dante scholars until the end of the nineteenth century, by the name of “Pia de' Tolomei,” and her story unfolds over the course of about three hours. How have seven lines from Dante managed to expand to fill three hours of Maggio performance? The story is a long but fascinating one.