If Italian literature, over its 900-year history, can be characterized, it is by its fidelity to tradition, respect for style, and concern for political and social questions.  Most prominent Italian writers have been well educated--disciplined by the study of the classics.  At the same time, Italians have recurrently displayed an aptitude for formal innovation and thematic pioneering that has been fruitful for European letters as a whole.  As proof of this contention, it is sufficient to cite the achievement of Petrarch in lyric poetry, the groundbreaking sociopolitical studies of Machiavelli, or the chivalrous romance perfected by Ariosto.  These names also suggest the period in which Italian literature was preeminent; from the mid-14th century through the High Renaissance the influence of Italian writers was widespread and seminal. Although this primacy was lost at the end of the 16th century, each generation since has brought forth figures of international resonance.

A specifically Italian literature was late in developing primarily because Latin, both as a spoken and as a written language, survived in the peninsula longer than elsewhere in Europe.  The first Italian writers were members of the so-called Sicilian School.  Flourishing at the court of Emperor Frederick II (r.  1208-50), these poets adapted the amatory substance of the Provencal troubadours to their lyrics, adding their own stylistic refinements.  The idealized Lady of their verses was given philosophical and religious significance by their successors Guido \TGuinicelli\t and Guido \TCavalcanti\t and achieved immortality in the \TBeatrice\t of \TDante Alighieri\t and the Laura of \TPetrarch\t.

After Frederick's death the Italian muse moved northward, and a wider range of themes--social, political, and religious--becomes apparent in the works of the Tuscan Guittone d'Arezzo (c.1230-c.1294) and \TJacopone da Todi\t, whose devotional verse was popular in style.  All these motifs were fused in Dante's richly complex \TDivine Comedy\t, a perfect reflection of the 13th-century world view and unquestionably the greatest poem of the Middle Ages.  It was Dante's use of his native Tuscan dialect that ultimately established it as the literary language of Italy.  Petrarch brought to his sonnets and songs, especially those of the Canzoniere (Song Book), a deep emotional commitment and a technical mastery that remains unsurpassed.  The bulk of his work, however, was written in Latin.  As a prime mover in the new \Thumanism\t, he was dedicated to a deeper appreciation of the classics, one of the principal facets of the \TRenaissance\t, especially as it unfolded in Italy. Giovanni \TBoccaccio\t, a friend and admirer or Petrarch, while chiefly celebrated for the sprightly prose, well-plotted tales, and cynical wit of his \TDecameron\t (1351-53), also pioneered in the invention of a number of poetic genres that were widely imitated abroad.  The lively Novelle (c.1378-c.1395), or short stories, of Franco Sacchetti (c.1332-1400) further developed the genre mastered by Boccaccio.

Although the cult of Latin tended to overshadow the vernacular in the 15th century, Italian writers of talent were not lacking.  The versatile Leon Battista \TAlberti\t, better known as an architect, published a lengthy treatise, On the Family (1433-39);  its wisdom and rationality reflected the abiding concern of Italian letters with social and ethical topics. Toward the end of the century the Florentine tyrant Lorenzo de'Medici (1449-92) and his protege Angelo Poliziano (see \TPolitian\t) excelled in lyric, narrative, and satirical verse. The semipopular Carolingian epic was polished and exploited by Luigi PULCI in his comic Morgante Maggiore (1483) and by Matteo Maria \TBoiardo\t in his well-known Orlando Innamorato (left unfinished in 1487).

The major cities of Italy achieved full autonomy in the 15th century and under their signori became centers of great wealth and culture, enjoying a precarious liberty that endured until the foreign invasions of the early 16th century.  These were the years of the High Renaissance, which produced innumerable writers of rare originality.  In 1532, Ludovico \TAriosto\t finished his romantic epic, \TOrlando Furioso\t.  Nicolo \TMachiavelli\t's The \Tprince\t (1532), unique among political works of the period in examining the real, rather than the ideal, bases of a sovereign's power;  Baldassare \TCastiglione\t's The Courtier (1528), with its vivid description of Renaissance court life and manners;  and Jacopo \TSannazaro\t's pastoral idyll Arcadia (1502), roughly contemporaneous works, all exercised an important influence on literature internationally.  High Renaissance Italian writers also included Cardinal Pietro \TBembo\t, who exemplified the PLATONISM of the times;  the historian of the contemporary Italian wars, as well as of his native Florence, Francesco \TGuicciardini\t;  the satirist Pietro \TAretino\t;  the short-story writers Matteo \TBandello\t and Giovanni Francesco \TStraparola\t;  and the genius \TMichelangelo\t, whose sonnets rival his paintings in their depth of feeling and vigor of expression.

Italy's golden age came to an end with the loss of political liberty that was experienced when most of Italy fell under the domination of Spain.  Intellectual freedom also suffocated under a doctrinaire Church as it attempted to contain the spread of the Protestant Reformation.  The tensions of the times are evident in the writings of the philosopher Giordano \TBruno\t as well as in the last great poetic work of the century, Torquato \TTasso\t's epic Jerusalem Delivered (1581).  In Aminta (1573), Tasso contributed to the popularity of the pastoral play, a genre also represented by the Pastor Fido (1590) of Giovanni Battista \TGuarini\t.

In the baroque twilight of the early 17th century, the flamboyant Neapolitan poet Giambattista \TMarini\t, alone among Italian writers, received international recognition.  The mock-epic The Rape of the Bucket (1622) by Alessandro Tassoni (1565-1635), nevertheless, has a certain vivacity and may well have influenced Alexander Pope's The \TRape of the Lock\t;  the poets Gabriello Chiabrera (1552-1638), Fulvio Testi (1593-1646), and Francesco Redi (1626-98) also show originality and vigor.

The early years of the 18th century produced three able dramatists:  Pietro \TMetastasio\t, a deft composer of melodramas and librettos;  Carlo \TGoldoni\t, whose well-made comedies still hold their own on the stage;  and Carlo \TGozzi\t, who adapted the \Tcommedia dell'arte\t to his own romantic uses.

Social concerns inspired the work of the economic reformer Pietro Verri (1728-97), of Giambattista \TVico\t--the most powerful intellect of his century--whose cyclical interpretation of history helped establish the discipline on a modern, scientific basis, and of the satirical poet Giuseppe \TParini\t.

Toward the end of the century a new note was sounded by the dramatist Vittorio \TAlfieri\t, whose plays, though classic in form, were already romantic in mood and informed by the nationalist spirit of the coming \TRisorgimento\t.  The era was perhaps best epitomized by the Venetian soldier-poet Ugo \TFoscolo\t in works that blend romantic emotion, classical discipline, and patriotic passion.

A strong element of Christian piety colors the work of Alessandro \TManzoni\t, the leader of Italian romanticism (see \Tromanticism\t, literature), chiefly famous for his semirealistic, semiromantic historical novel I promessi sposi (1825-27; trans.  as The Betrothed, 1828).  The most gifted and lyrical voice of the century belonged to the poet Giacomo \TLeopardi\t, who employed traditional verse forms for his uniquely seductive blend of passionate spontaneity and linguistic precision. Other writers of note in the early 19th century include the historical novelists Tommaso Grossi (1790-1853) and Francesco Guerrazzi (1804-73).  Because of Italy's growing struggle for independence and national unification, the writings of such political theorists as Vincenzo \TGioberti\t, Massimo D'Azeglio (1798-1866), and especially the great patriot Giuseppe \TMazzini\t also assumed significance at the time.  Following unification, which was crowned by the seizure (1870) of Rome by the royal troops of the house of Savoy, literary activity intensified.

Giosue \TCarducci\t, a poet of social commitment and also a distinguished critic, was the greatest lyrical talent to emerge in the second half of the century.  Toward the end of the century the more personal verse of Giovanni \TPascoli\t became popular.  In the 1880s and 1890s the Italian novel was ably represented by two great writers:  the master of \Tverismo\t, Giovanni \TVerga\t, celebrated for his evocations of Sicilian life, and the subtle psychologist Italo \TSvevo\t.

Antonio \TFogazzaro\t, author of Piccolo Mondo Antico (1896; trans.  as The Patriot, 1906), and Matilde Serao (1856-1927), with her colorful observations of Neapolitan life, also wrote novels of note.  By far the most versatile and certainly the most prominent of all Italian writers during the period, however, was Gabriele D'ANNUNZIO, novelist, poet, and dramatist, as well as duelist, patriot, and dilettante.  His soaring lyrics together with his flamboyant personal life and controversial political activism kept his influence alive into the 1930s.

The early years of the 20th century witnessed the emergence of Luigi \TPirandello\t, already known for his novels, as one of modern \Tdrama\t's most innovative figures.  His cerebral plays questioning the nature of reality and anticipating the thrust of later \Texistentialism\t retain their flavor and popularity today.  Pirandello's work shows some affinity with the "grotesque" theater of his time, of which Luigi \TChiarelli\t, Pier Maria \TRosso\t DI SAN SECONDO, and Massimo Bontempelli (1878-1959) were leading exponents.  The symbolic dramas of Ugo \TBetti\t have also had an influence far beyond the confines of Italy.

In lyric poetry, three successive schools appeared:  the crepuscolari, or "twilight" poets, of the early 20th century, chief among them Guido Gozzano.  Sergio Corazzini and Marino Moretti;  the short-lived, clamorous futurists (see \Tfuturism\t), captained by Filippo Tommaso \TMarinetti\t;  and the hermetics, whose origins may be found in the early verses of Giuseppe \TUngaretti\t and who flourished unobtrusively during the Fascist era.  Less easy to categorize are the original and irrational poetry of Dino Campana and the sensitive, autobiographical verse of Umberto SABA.

The novel in the early part of the century was represented by the Sardinian regionalist Grazia \TDeledda\t, winner of the 1926 Nobel Prize for literature, and the Tuscan realist Federigo \TTozzi\t.  At the same time the writings of the great philosopher, critic, and historian Benedetto \TCroce\t attracted an international audience, while the polemical essays and Life of Christ (1921;  Eng.  trans., 1923) of Giovanni Papini also enjoyed a great if ephemeral vogue.

In spite of censorship during Mussolini's years in power (1922-43), many writers continued to express themselves with some degree of freedom under fascism.  Overt criticism of the regime, however, was ventured mainly by such exiles as the socialist novelist Ignazio \TSilone\t, author of Bread and Wine (1937;  Eng.  trans., 1962), and the critic and novelist Giuseppe Antonio \TBorgese\t;  within Italy, the social commentator Carlo Levi wrote his perceptive Christ Stopped at Eboli (1945; Eng.  trans., 1947) from government-enforced exile in the south, while the novelist Elio \TVittorini\t, the father of \Tneorealism\t, was temporarily imprisoned (1943) for his Marxist-oriented writings.  Many prominent figures espoused the regime--Pirandello, Bontempelli, and Ungaretti among them.  The discontent of such able novelists as Alberto \TMoravia\t, who in the postwar years became Italy's most prolific and popular novelist and who in The Conformist (1951;  Eng.  trans., 1952) exposed the suffocating destructiveness of the regime, or of Corrado \TAlvaro\t, author of Revolt in Aspromonte (1930;  Eng. trans., 1962), though evident to a perceptive reader, was expressed only obliquely in the 1930s and early 1940s.

The fall of fascism brought a new flowering to Italian letters. Reflecting Italian literature's traditional bias toward social and political concerns, the Letters from Prison (1947; selections trans., 1973) and Prison Notebooks (1948-51; selections trans., 1971) of Antonio \TGramsci\t, prewar Italy's leading Marxist theoretician, became bestsellers a decade after his death and exerted a powerful influence on European intellectuals.  Among neorealist novelists, Cesare \TPavese\t and Vasco PRATOLINI came to the fore;  they were joined by new recruits to neorealism, many, such as Giorgio \TBassani\t, the sensitive author of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1962; Eng.  trans., 1965), and Natalia \TGinzburg\t, in A Light for Fools (1952;  Eng.  trans., 1957), drawing on their memories of the war and of the partisan resistance in their fiction.

The novel of fantasy was represented by Dino \TBuzzati\t and Italo \TCalvino\t, while a sophisticated regionalism, characterized by varying styles and intents, was cultivated by Carlo Cassola, the satirical Vitaliano \TBrancati\t, Michele Prisco, and Lionello Sciscia (1921-89)--the last perhaps the most talented writer of his generation.  The conventional novel of middle-class crises and problems was given a new twist by Guido Piovene, Mario Soldati, and Alba De Cespedes.  Paradoxically, the two Italian novels that enjoyed the greatest international success in the postwar period were written by members of the older generation; That Awful Mess in Via Merulana (1958;  Eng.  trans., 1965), a riotous and multileveled detective story, by Carlo Emilio \TGadda\t, and The Leopard (1956;  Eng.  trans., 1960), a sad and disillusioned historical novel, by Giuseppe Tomasi di \TLampedusa\t, were both sui generis.  Primo \TLevi\t, whose literary career began about the same time, came to international attention much later;  the first volume of his autobiography, with its harrowing recollections of Auschwitz, was published in Italian in 1947.

Older hermetic poets gained worldwide recognition when Salvatore \TQuasimodo\t in 1959 and Eugenio \TMontale\t in 1975 won the Nobel Prize in literature.  In recent years more accessible poets became prominent, among them Vittorio Sereni (1913-83) and Pier Paolo \TPasolini\t, who wrote his early poetry in the Friulian dialect of his childhood, reasserting the rich diversity of the language after the years of fascist insistence on a monolithic Italian.  Although Pasolini was most famous outside Italy for his films, he was also a leader of the literary avante-garde--a position later occupied by poet, novelist, and critic Edoardo Sanguineti.

Since the 1950s, a great deal of dramatic talent has been channeled into the renowned Italian film industry.  Of popular works on the contemporary stage, the Neapolitan plays of Eduardo \TDe Filippo\t are staples of the Italian theater.  The plays of Diego Fabbri (1911-80) reflect a Pirandellian influence.  The plays of political satirist and actor Dario Fo attract international interest.

Thomas G. Bergin

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