LITERATURE, CONTINENTAL, IN 1871. 



465 



ITALY. The most imaginative and the most 

 eloquent of Italian living poets is Giovanni 

 Prati. As a sonnet-writer he has nothing to 

 fear from comparison with any other Italian 

 poet, past or present (although among the liv- 

 ing, the proud poet of Trieste, Giuseppe Re- 

 vere, approaches him very nearly). Aleardi 

 is much more sparing of his verses, but also 

 much less ardent. His verse is full of flatter- 

 ing sentiments and as amiable as the gentle 

 poet who polishes it. Francesco Dall' Ongaro 

 has written in his youth several fine ballads, 

 as well as in the last twenty years some very 

 graceful popular songs, and two attempts at 

 reconstructing the Greek theatre of Menanda. 

 Andrea Maffei has dressed in a splendid but 

 not always in a faithful Italian garb several 

 German and English poets, and has also writ- 

 ten and published whole volumes of original 

 verses ; but, except its melody, his poetry of- 

 fers nothing which appears worthy of note. 

 Arnaldo Fusinato has written romantic ballads 

 and jocose poems in a popular style; he aimed 

 at popularity, but not at elegance. Now he 

 has -retired from the arena of poetry, ceding 

 his place to his intelligent companion, Signora 

 Fua*-Fusinato, who writes classical songs with 

 a certain fire and with great nobility of soul. 

 Giacomo Zanella is the purist of modern Ital- 

 ian poetry ; there is not a word, not a syllable, 

 that can be changed in his verses. The six 

 poets just recorded are the most popular, the 

 most read, among the mature poets of Italy 

 (not speaking of Manzoni), and a singular 

 fact they were all born in Venetia. In Lom- 

 bardy, among the old poets, the first places 

 are occupied by Giulio Carcano, the story- 

 teller, who is full of affection, and Anselmo 

 Guerrieri Golzaga, the translator of "Faust." 

 Among the young ones, Carlo Baravalle has 

 robust notes ; Bernardino Zendrini humor like 

 that of Heine, whose lyrical songs he also 

 translated; and Felice Cavallotti sometimes 

 has the impetus of Tyrtaeus. In Piedmont, 

 among the old men, Giuseppe Bertoldi writes 

 few but excellent songs in a classical style ; 

 and the ex-iraprovisatore, Giuseppe Regaldi, 

 odes and songs which are not devoid of ele- 

 gance. Among the young men, Vincenzo 

 Riccardi has a touch of Heine in his gloomy 

 hours; Leopoldo Marenco composes graceful 

 idyls; Ferdinando Bosio possesses elevated 

 sentiment. In Liguria, Francesco Pizzorno 

 writes with classical elegance; and Anton 

 Giulio Barrili and Gaspare Buffa, inspired by 

 the Muses, sing with a powerful flow of po- 

 etry, which sometimes reminds one of that 

 of Prati. In Sardinia, Felice Uda has given 

 proofs of fine poetical talent. In Tuscany, the 

 old Einilio Frullani and the young Giuseppe 

 Chiarini have written several songs which will 

 be preserved as a happy proof of the possibili- 

 ty of touching the feelings by using classical 

 forms ; Giosue Carducci, in his " Hymn to Sa- 

 tan," showed himself a great lyrical poet; 

 Giuseppe Levantini-Pieroni endeavors, with 

 VOL. XL 30 A 



talent, to express, by means of poetry, the 

 ideas of Mr. Darwin; Napoleon Giotti has 

 written verses well tempered to the form of 

 Niccolini ; Renato Fucini shows himself an 

 excellent poet in the Pisan dialect. In Rome, 

 Domenico Gnoli (Dario Gaddi), Paolo Emilio 

 Castagnola, Fabio Nannarelli and Ferdinando 

 Santini constitute the so-called Roman poetical 

 school, which endeavors to express new ideas 

 in ancient forms. 



Umbria furnishes a numerous contingent of 

 old and young poets ; Bonazzi, Cocchi, Pen- 

 nacchi, Tiberi, Montesperelli, all at Perugia ; 

 and Luigi Morandi, at Spoleto. The poet of 

 Ancona is Filippo Barattani. But we must 

 not forget the popular poet of the Marches, 

 Luigi Mercantini, the author of " Tito Speri," 

 and of " Garibaldi's Hymn." In the Neapoli- 

 tan provinces the most worthy representative 

 of poetry is a woman, Gianina Mili, the cele- 

 brated improvisatrice. Among Calabrians, 

 Domenico Miletti de Siena gives proof of tal- 

 ent. In Sicily, Giuseppe de Spuches, Riccardo 

 Mitchell, Francesco Perez, Leonardo Vigo, 

 Emmanuele Giarracca", Carmelo Pardi, among 

 the old poets ; and among the young ones the 

 skeptical yet noble-minded Mario Rapisardi, 

 the affectionate Giuseppe Aurelio Costanzo, 

 the imaginative Gaetano Ardizzoni are the 

 best known, and then Tommaso Cannizzaro, 

 Ugo Antonio Amico, Letterio Lizio Bruno, 

 and the poetesses Concettina Fileti and Mari- 

 annina Coffa. 



As to Italian romances, they so much re- 

 semble each other that they cannot be distin- 

 guished one from another, and there is nothing 

 to give to any one of them a decided superi- 

 ority. They are almost all lost in that ephem- 

 eral literature with which Milan inundates 

 all Italy ; they are read with avidity and for- 

 gotten with marvellous ease. To these ro- 

 mances, manufactured to assuage the tedium 

 of the idle, a more healthy literature is 

 now opposed. The example came from Eng- 

 land, and the first and not unsuccessful at- 

 tempts are being made in Italy. Cesare 

 Cantu and Guiseppe Guerzoni are showing- 

 that it is possible to instruct and educate the 

 people even by the pleasant form of narra- 

 tives; Paolo Mantegazza, Paolo Lioy, and' 

 Gerolamo Bocardo, by making popular the- 

 science in works written in a brilliant form,, 

 and sometimes with an educational aim. 



In the University of Turin, and especially 

 in the philological school of Prof. Flecchia, Dr.. 

 Domenico Pezzi was educated, who has justr 

 published a remarkable " Historico-Compara- 

 tive Grammar of the Latin Tongue." The 

 field of philology is filled with laborers; 

 Latin and Greek grammars, composed by Ital- 

 ians, according to modern methods, are begin- 

 ning to be adopted in schools, and Oriental' 

 studies are progressing favorably. In this- 

 year alone, a pupil of the illustrious Arabic- 

 scholar, Michele Amari, Signer Celestiho- 

 Schiapparelli, has published a voluminous med-- 



