author
da la Riva Bonvesin
A vivid medieval voice from Milan, he wrote in both Latin and early Lombard and is often remembered as one of the first major writers to give the Lombard language a written literary form. His works mix moral teaching, religious feeling, and a striking eye for everyday city life.
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About the author
Born in Milan around 1240, Bonvesin da la Riva was a medieval Italian writer, poet, and teacher. He is closely associated with the Humiliati and is widely remembered as an important early author in the Lombard vernacular, alongside his work in Latin.
His best-known writings include the Libro delle tre scritture, a long poem that explores hell, heaven, and the Passion, and De magnalibus urbis Mediolani, a celebrated portrait of Milan that offers a rich picture of the city in the late thirteenth century. Together, these works show both his moral purpose and his gift for concrete, lively description.
Modern readers often meet him as a key witness to medieval Milan and as a foundational figure in Lombard literary history. Though little is known with certainty about the details of his life, his writing has lasted because it is both instructive and vividly rooted in the world he knew.