The analysis of sonnet 99 of the Canzoniere widens into a study of the notion of hope in Petrarch's work. This theme of hope appears in the first as well as in the last composition, and it permeates the entire work representing one of the major clues for interpreting its "story". Hope undergoes constant change, starting as "speranza vana" or hearthly hope and ending by becoming hope in the Highest Good, coinciding with Faith and Charity. In the context of this tormenting history the meaning and the function of sonnet 99 become clear, and sheds light on that great rhetorical work of self-persuasion narrated in the Canzoniere: an existential quest that transforms earthly hopes into the desire of the Supreme Goodness.
