| Sumario: | The affinity between the "Scroll of Love" in the Maḥbarot by Immanuel of Rome (1265-1335?) and the "Vita Nuova" by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) has long been discussed by Hebrew scholars in terms of influence and imitation. What the present study suggests is that the "Scroll of Love" is, in fact, a parody of Dante's sublime youthful work, and that the elements traditionally read as pseudo-autobiography are instead literary elements contributing to the parody. To strengthen her thesis the author draws attention to the "Rota Veneris," a thirteenth-century work parodying the literary traditions of amor carnalis and amor spiritualis, and also notes a curious parallel with Boccaccio's "Filostrato" and the changing ways scholars have read that work over the centuries.
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