Commentary Par XXX 117

Francesco da Buti (DDP Buti.Par.XXX.109-117) says that the rows of the Rose 'are like those in the arena di Verona.'  He is followed by two modern commentators, Trucchi (DDP Trucchi.Par.XXX.118-123) and Sapegno (DDP Sapegno.Par.XXX.112-113).  Trucchi, however, prefers the notion of Gioachino Brognoligo that the structure Dante has in mind is the Colosseum at Rome.  Both Dante's more recent and more certain visit to the Arena and its greater intimacy as a built space give the edge to Verona.

Dronke (Dron.1989.1), pp. 41-42, points out that, in the early thirteenth century, one Petrus Capuanus had written a treatise, De rosa, which treats the red rose (martyrs), the white rose (Mary), and the red and white rose (Christ).  This last puts forth leaves that include personages of both Testaments.  Dronke is not so much claiming influence (although he leaves that possibility open) as similarity, an 'indication of the intellectual development of which the imagery of the rose was capable already a century before the Commedia' (p. 42).