Websites
Indiana University has created an accessible collection of digitized manuscripts of Petrarch's Canzoniere. It's a very cool resource for all of you aspiring medievalists and those who just want to see how poetry physically takes shape over time.
This site is a testament to what the dedication of an independent scholar can do. Peter Sadlon has created a convenient, accessible resource for students new to Petrarch's life and works. You will find biographical info, texts of his poems and prose, mp3 files, and general information about the poet's world.
If reading Canzone126 inspires you to chuck it all and dedicate your life to Petrarch's works, you should start with The Oregon Petrarch Open Book Project. This is digital humanities work at its finest—and a project to aspire to if you think you've got that calling.
Audio
Lars Johan Werle has set 126 to music for choir. Get your ethereal on with this performance.
Professional narrator and voice-over artist Moro Silo reads Canzone126 in silky, smooth Italian. Really, it's worth a listen—even if you don't understand a word.
Images
The British Library offers us eye-popping images from MS. King's 321, a copy of Petrarch's Canzoniere, circa 1400. You can click on the image to enlarge it, and if you scroll to the bottom of the original page in this link, you'll find several more images to peruse.
Getty Images provides a tantalizing glimpse at an incunabulum (early printed book) from 1473 ofCanzone126. Well, at least the first stanza and one-half of it—gah. But let's be grateful. The earliest printed version of the Canzoniere is from 1470, so this one gets us pretty close.
Articles and Interviews
It all started with the innocent desire to create an accurate portrait of Petrarch for his 700th birthday. But the opening of Petrarch's tomb to recover his skull revealed that tomb raiders had already been there and left a "substitution." Either that, or Petrarch's skull decided to get in touch with its feminine side.
This consultant for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. relates a clever exercise she did with a class of high school students who were reading Romeo and Juliet. Spoiler alert: Petrarchan ideals feature prominently.
If you're the type that likes your vacay on the literary side, check out Arquà Petrarca in northern Italy, where Petrarch built a home and spent his final years.
One scholar's pilgrimage to Petrarch's house in Arquà Petrarca inspires complex reflections on literary tourism, Petrarch's presence, and whether or not the poet loved his kitty above all else. Also, Senseshaper's blog entries will school you on how to write a proper scholarly article/paper.
Books
If your medieval Italian is a little dusty, Mark Musa's translation of Petrarch's Canzoniere will pull you through. His work is careful and poetic in its own right (he's even metrically correct on most lines).
If you prefer long-standing authority in your academic resources, Durling's translation of the Rime Sparse (that's the Canzoniere to us) has stood the test of time.
Kristina Marie Darling creates poetry by "pilfering" from established authors and blowing apart their texts. Her latest book gives the treatment to Petrarch's poetry.