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

Another widespread tendency is melic

poetry, both monodic and choral. One

should recall that, after sporadic attempts

during the last century, it received a strong

impetus from Evandro Marcolongo (1874-

1959), from Atessa, and Luigi Dommarco

(1876-1969), from Ortona, with the now

famous Maggiolate ortonesi, successfully

begun in 1920. Of the two, Dommarco had a

more versatile personality and greater

renown, in part due to the song Vola vola

vola, that has traveled around the world. He

is the author of numerous collections of

poetry, some of which go well beyond the

melodic line.

There have been really many who,

throughout the century, have written for

music and song, so that one can maintain

that Abruzzi boasts of a canzoniere worthy

of the Neapolitan one. Here are some of the