Le Correctiones dantesche di Bartolomeo Perazzini

This essay sheds new light on the Veronese priest and philologist Bartolomeo Perazzini (1727–1800) through his Correctiones et adnotationes in Dantis Comoediam (1775), one of the first systematic attempts at textual criticism of the Divine Comedy. The work, originally an appendix to a treatise on the Sermons of Saint Zeno, applies general, language-independent philological principles to Dante and is organized into three sections, one for each canticle, opened by introductory letters. Perazzini adopts the method of parallel passages, detailed analysis of individual verses, and comparisons with codices and printed works, supporting a "pre-Lachmannian" vision that, however, anticipates the principle of weighting the witnesses (ponderandi, not numerandi). His research is structured on three levels: philological (establishing the text's accuracy), critical (interpreting and explaining obscure passages), and apologetic (defending Dante from the attacks of the Jesuits Venturi and Bettinelli). Despite practical limitations—limited access to the manuscripts, imperfect collation, and a sometimes disorganized structure—the Correctiones serve as a workbook and methodological manual, marking a decisive stage in the history of Dante philology and paving the way for subsequent Veronese studies (Torelli, Dionisi), in a climate of intense academic collaboration.