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

Rome is the Capital of Italy, the fate of the

country and the spiritual fate of Christianity

are decided there; it is the crossroads of the

events (seat of both Parliament and Senate)

which must necessarily reflect upon those

who are interested in dialect poetry and

above all its practitioners.

It is very well known that all poetry in

Roman dialect in the second half of the

Nineteenth Century developed under the

direct influence of Gioacchino Belli; the

great master, with his more than two

thousand sonnets, is the legitimate,

unquestioned predecessor, indispensable

source not only for everything concerning

language, but also everything concerning

themes and even contents. Filippo Chiappini

and Luigi Feretti, for example, move

slavishly within Belli’s poetry and not only

do they not make a secret of their affiliation,