What subjects did religious literature in 14th-century Italy explore?

In 14th-century Italy, religious literature explored a variety of spiritual and moral subjects, often aimed at instructing and edifying the faithful. Key themes and forms included:

• Penitence and Sermons: Works such as Jacopo Passavanti’s Specchio di vera penitenza (“The Mirror of True Penitence”) served as collections of sermons, focusing on the necessity and practice of repentance.1
• Hagiography: This literature documented the lives, trials, and deaths of saints and martyrs, as well as accounts of miracles associated with their relics and icons. The anonymous Fioretti di San Francesco (The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi) is a notable example, collecting legends concerning St. Francis and his followers.21
• The Passion of Christ: Religious songs known as laudi—often performed by lay confraternities—frequently recalled the life and Passion of Christ.3
• Spiritual Allegory: Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy stands as the era's masterpiece, using a complex allegorical journey through the afterlife to explore themes of damnation, expiation, and beatitude, ultimately seeking a vision of God.4
• Moral and Doctrinal Themes: Other works addressed spiritual poverty, the corruption of the church, and moralistic views on the nature of the world and the body.3