ABSTRACT
The ballata is unique among the Disperse in that it was for many years included in the Canzoniere. It was transcribed in the poet’s final manuscript copy (Vaticano-latino 3195) at position CXXI and replaced by the madrigal, Or vedi Amor, only in the last months of Petrarch’s life. The most widely accepted explanation for the poet’s suppression of this lyric is that it refers to a love for another woman, though some 16th-century commentators interpreted the donna of v. 1 as an allegorical representation of the poet’s desire for glory. 3. Internal rhyme (here and in v.8) is unusual in Petrarch’s ballate. For stempre, Canz. LXXIII, 7-8: ma non in guisa che lo core si stempre/di sorvechia dolcezza.
