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

also seedbed of coarseness and

awkwardness, over which the knowing

auctores of witty, ironic sketches have

laughed and made others laugh for

centuries). This operation was still possible

in the primitive rural world of Molise, which

Altobello had observed and “transcribed”

with a profuse sense of humanity and

empathy, which nevertheless did not

exclude the ironic smile, even if it was

gentle, benevolent and in good measure

complicitous. And from this multitude of

feeling towards a reality in the wane ─ and

in essence bound to that other reality, of life

itself, preserved intact and pure in memory

─ emerges the figure of “Minghe

Cunzulette,” that lends the title to the

collection Minghe e Peppa. Altobello himself

explains its origin, with a clear consciousness

of his role as sensitive witness of changing