Commentary Par XXV 9

Exactly what Dante means by this word has been a matter of some dispute.  See Rigo (Rigo.1994.1), pp. 135-63, for a complex meditation on possible meanings of the poet's putting on the cappello ('crown,' according to her, in the sense of 'reward for accomplishment in poetry'), in which she advances the theory that it refers most significantly to Dante's desire to be given back his Florentine citizenship.  Fumagalli (Fuma.2002.1), pp. 395-96, resuscitates Novati's study of this passage (Nova.1899.1).  Novati had argued that Dante could not have hoped to be granted the laurel for a poem written in the vernacular, citing Mussato's Paduan coronation in 1315 for a Latin work that was deemed appropriate for such reward, while Dante must have realized that his vernacular poem would not be (a very weak argument, one wants to add).  What he really wanted, Novati continued, was an 'advanced degree' from the as yet unfounded Florentine university.  Apparently, Novati has a precursor down this errant path.  Scartazzini (DDP Scartazzini.Par.XXV.9) cites from G. Todeschini at some length and to the same effect (Dante longed to be 'Professor Alighieri') before canceling his ticket.

For an earlier self-laureation, see Horace (Odes III.30): 'Exegi monumentum aere perennius,' which, the last poem in the third book of the collection, ends (vv. 14-16) with 'Sume superbiam / quaesitam meritis et mihi Delphica / lauro cinge uolens, Melpomene, comam.'  The word cappello is now generally acknowledged to derive from OF chaplet, 'garland'; cf. Decameron I.i, the name of the scandalous protagonist Cepparello transmogrified by the Burgundians into Ciappelletto, from chaplet.  Whatever one may eventually decide cappello may mean, one will probably not admire or accept Giuseppe Mazzotta's phrasing: 'poetic hat' (Mazz.1984.1), p. 645.

Brownlee (Brow.1984.2) finds a pattern of authorial strategy in the Commedia marked by an increasing use of the vernacular in religious contexts, in order to endow Italian with the authority to stand beside Latin for serious purposes and, along with this, an exaltation of Dante's status to that of poeta.  Brownlee argues that this concern first surfaces in Vita Nuova XXV, then in Inferno XXV, in Purgatorio XXV, and culminates here in Paradiso XXV.