Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy (Italian Poetry in Translation Book 2)

letters, so his populism is not mannered.

Michela Sacco Messineo writes:

The voice of the workers and farmers of

Ragusa echoes in him in a fruitful emotional

and cultural osmosis, in which the author’s

sentiments are represented as characters, as

voices and points of view of his mother, his

father, his fiancée, his friends, of the farmers

and workers of his community. In this

“patriarchal perspective,” in feeling himself

part of a civilization, lies the profound core

of his inspiration (...)^25

For further comments on Di Giacomo’s

work, see the introduction to his texts.

Giuseppe Ganci Battaglia (1901-1977) is

like a bee that feeds on all the flowers,

producing the dense, fragrant honey of

Madonie, the native area of this poet, who

lived mostly in Palermo. His poetry follows

a solid (not archaic) tradition. He made his