Bondie Dietaiuti was born in the first half of the XIII century, probably in Florence.
However, no mention of Dietaiuti was found in archival sources in Florence or elsewhere. No direct or indirect news made us suspect its existence until for the first time (by Massi in 1840, followed by others) some unpublished example of ancient poetry was extracted from the then ignored and then famous Vatican code, witness among the most authoritative of thirteenth-century opera and almost the only source for the important group of Florentine prestilnovisti rhymers. The sonnet chosen by Massi, a graceful composition on the Occitanic theme of spring, Quando l'aira rischiara e rinserena, therefore had the honor of mention in the debut of the History of Italian literature by F. De Sanctis; which gave Dietaiuti or at least his name a late fame, often higher than that of other Florentine rhymers of the same historical moment, equally or more important, such as Neri de 'Visdomini, Carnino Ghiberti, Maestro Francesco and others, to whom Dietaiuti shares the manuscript tradition.
The most consistent indications were drawn from the poetic production to give Dietaiuti a more precise biography. The internal correspondences between the song of Dietaiuti, Amore quando mi membra, and the song S'eo sono distretto jnamoratamente, by Brunetto Latini, and above all the contiguous collocation of the two texts in the Vatican Code, make Dietaiuti's lyric a response to Brunetto, while the amorous nature of this poetic correspondence involves him in the accusation of sodomy addressed to the Latini by Dante in the XV of the Inferno. The sin attributed to Brunetto has sometimes been doubted in the absence of other testimonies besides Dante's. Correspondence with Dietaiuti - literary fiction or real experience - can constitute the "proof against". At least in Dante's eyes. The two compositions, songs of distance, should date back to the years of Brunetto's exile, 1260-66.
My published books:
