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

desperate because “if the ram is missing /

the dog always barks.”

Also worthy of mention are the few

verses left to us by Tito di Blasio, from

Civitella Casanova (Pescara), who lived at

the beginning of the 19th Century; and even

more so is “The Peasant’s Toast,” by

Giuseppe Paparella (1835─1895), from Tocco

Casauria, that traces in a sharp and incisive

manner the life of a poor farmer who takes

part in a holiday in order to drink, among

blows and curses, to everyone’s health, to his

friends, to the town’s patron Saint.

Everything is said in a plain language, taken

from current popular speech.

With Fedele Romani (1855 -1910), from

Colledara (Teramo), well- known teacher of

Italian Literature at the University of

Florence, dialect poetry from Abruzzi takes a

significant step in the direction of a