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

only able to impose an original and

acceptable form when they become cutting

and mocking.

To find some kind of poetic certainty

again, not devoid of energy and quality, one

has to wait for the first compositions by Gigi

Zanazzo, who is directly connected to Belli’s

vein (perhaps without neglecting even

Ferretti’s and Chiappini’s experiences) and

from it he draws the inspiration to capture

the small realities of everyday Roman world.

Zanazzo understands the necessity of going

beyond Belli while starting with him, and to

explore the spaces left empty or unexpressed

by his great predecessor. His expressive

energy is thus enhanced by it, because it

doesn’t adjust easily to the meter of

imitation and it must therefore follow a

totally personal groove, making an effort to

find poetic motifs applicable to the