Moretti, Marino

▪ Italian poet

born July 18, 1885, Cesenatico, Italy

died July 6, 1979, Cesenatico

      Italian poet and prose writer whose nostalgic, elegant verse established him as a leader of the crepuscolarismo movement in the early 20th century.

      While studying to be an actor, Moretti befriended writer Aldo Palazzeschi, who also became interested in crepuscolarismo, a movement characterized by disillusion, nostalgia, and an appreciation of directness and simplicity. Moretti's early poetry was autobiographical in subject, unadorned and colloquial in style. In 1910 Moretti published his first major collection, Poesie scritte col lapis (“Poems Written with a Pencil”), and he was the subject of a landmark essay by Giuseppe Borgese on crepuscolarismo. After serving in World War I, he moved to Rome and met other crepuscolari.

      His poetry—focused on rural life, remembered youth, and simple pleasures—appears in such collections as I poemetti di Marino (1913; “Marino's Little Poems”) and Il giardino dei frutti (1916; “The Garden of Fruits”). In 1922 he began working for the Milan periodical Corriere della sera. For more than five decades he concentrated on prose writing and on the revision of his early verse, returning to poetry only with the publication of L'ultima estate (1969; “The Last Summer”). The mature, introspective poetry of his later years can also be found in Tre anni e un giorno (1971; “Three Years and a Day”), Le poverazze (1973; “The Mollusks”), and Diario senza le date (1974; “Diary Without Dates”). His notable novels include Il sole del sabato (1907; “Saturday Sun”), La voce di Dio (1921; “The Voice of God”), and La vedova Fiorvanti (1941; “The Widow Fiorvanti”).

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