The Vita Nova is the first work attributed to Dante. It is a prosimeter (a genre that combines prose sections and verse compositions) that contains 31 lyrics and has a narrative framework of 42 chapters.
The work has been in circulation since the years between 1292 and 1294, but it is not possible to establish with certainty the years in which the work was composed, as the dating is only certain for some of the lyrics present. It can be seen that Dante included in the Vita Nova poems written before the work itself and its conception; in general, the first poems date back to the year 1283 (the year of the second meeting between the Poet and Beatrice, the beloved woman) and the last ones to 1291 (the first anniversary of Beatrice's death, commemorated through a few poems).
Drawing from the book of his memory, Dante recalls his first meeting with Beatrice, which took place at the age of 9, in 1274. The number 9, a cube of the number 3, representing the Trinity, plays a central role in the Vita Nova and throughout Dante's work and biography. The second encounter with Beatrice, in fact, will take place at the age of 18 (9x2) and the number 9 is closely linked to the figure of Beatrice, who represents the miracle. Beatrice is not a human creature, but a divine one; she performs the miracle of beatification with her greeting. This Beatrice-miracle association will be topical in Dante's work; the beloved woman, in fact, also in the Commedia will have the task of saving the Poet from the perdition of sin, calling Virgil and guiding Dante to the earthly Paradise.
The Vita Nova is divided into two sections: one in which Beatrice is alive (chapters 1-18) and one in which she dies (chapters 19-31). In the work, the poet's conception of amorous sentiment also changes. From a love that follows courtly canons, he moves first to a love that is an end in itself, disinterested and, finally, to an amorous sentiment that combines passionate love and love understood in the Christian sense of caritas (charity).
In addition to Beatrice, the Poet's love interest also shifts to other female figures. First and foremost, the first screen woman, whose identity is not known and cannot be specified, since she is reduced to a courtly poetic expedient, that of the senhal. She acts as a mask, as a screen in fact, to conceal the Poet's true interest, that is, the kindly Beatrice. Then there is the second screen-woman and, more problematic and incisive, the Pitiful Woman. This one shows pity and sorrow towards Dante, inconsolable for the death of his beloved. The interest between Dante and this woman, probably founded on Alighieri's actual biographical experience, breaks down when the Poet realizes that, even in heavenly glory, Beatrice is the only one worthy of his love. This element, too, will be topical in the Commedia, in which Beatrice will reproach Dante for having been distracted, devoting himself to ephemeral passions after her death.
At the end of the Vita Nova, Dante declares that he wants to write of Beatrice what has never been written of any other woman, confirming the purity of his beloved and hinting at what will be the wider project of the Commedia.
