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

as well [the writer Lina Pietravalle made a

specific contribution with the volume Molise

(1924) and then with Sannio mistico (1931),

in addition to making Molise the privileged

background of her narrative, in keeping with

the canons of a belated romantic verismo).

Also involved were the press, that was

focusing as never before on discovering and

publicizing a well-defined and “illustrious”

“molisanness” [Molise (1924), La rivista di

Molise (1926), Luci molisane (1931), which

later became Luci sannite (1937), to underline

the “heroic” character of the Molisan people,

local publications that became the basic

forum for Molisan poets in dialect],

associations and folkloristic groups, and

composers and ethnomusicologists [cf. the

musical study by Vittorio De Rubertis on the

Maggio della Defènsa, (1920)]. All this was