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

Nino Martoglio, from Catania (1870-

1921), famous playwright and comedy writer

of the Sicilian theater (his works are the

mainstay of dialect theater comedians), was

the editor of the humorous newspaper

D’Artagnan and gave life to the Compagnia

del Teatro Mediterraneo. His poetic texts are

collected in Centona, in which he was able

to be both lyric and dramatic, excelling in

lively compositions, no less than the others

close to the popular spirit. Pirandello praised

his spareness and maintained that Martoglio

was for Sicily what Di Giacomo and Russo

represent for Naples, Pascarella and Trilussa

for Rome, Fucini for Tuscany, Selvatico and

Barbarani for the Veneto region.^15

Alessio di Giovanni (1872-1946) chose his

native Valplatani as the backdrop of his

poetic universe, almost to illustrate Tolstoy’s