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

of Trilussa], 1951; Pasquino e le pasquinate

[Pasquino and the Pasquinades], 1957;

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli. Ritratto mancato

[Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli. Incomplete

Portrait], 1970; and so has his work as a prose

writer: Il cavallino d’Argante [Argante’s

Pony], 1965; Il nuovo cuore [The New Heart],

same year; L’osteria cucinante [The Cooking

Tavern], 1965 and Roma capricciosa

[Whimsical Rome], 1966.

He is the first Roman dialect poet who is

open to the Hermetic experiences, to the

new demands of contemporary poetry

without disdaining dialect poetry. A poet of

deep inner life and strong sensibility, he has

expressed forcefully the modulations of his

somewhat crepuscular spirit, which has

given rise to his best work. Even the slight

smile that ripples through many of his