Ligurian:
# Giambattista Vigo (1844–1891)

Stæto cresciuo inte un orfanatròfio, o l’é stæto camallo da carbon e dapeu, con studiâ da pe lê e pe mezo de conoscense, o l’é arriescio à passâ meistro de scheua. O l’à accheuggeito inte _Fili d’erba_ (1889) a seu produçion poetica in zeneise, ben ben vexiña a-e espeiençe do segondo romantiçiximo italian. Tipico rappresentante de un mondo euttoçentesco zeneise e popolare, ch’o no s’arrendeiva de fronte a-e difficortæ e manco a-a misëia ciù neigra, vexin a-i pövei e a-i derelitti, visciuo da figgeu tra i instituti de caitæ religioxi, e o primmo soçialiximo co-e primme revendicaçioin operaie, o Vigo o l’à cortivou unna poexia de vòtte lagrimosa e romantica à effetto, de vòtte polemica, de vòtte apperlenguâ da-a vista di miacoi da natua e da-e usançe popolare, e o l’antiçipa, a-a seu mainea, o Malinverni, o Angeloni e o Firpo.

Da osservâ a someggiansa tra o titolo de sta poexia e quello de l’accheuggeita de liriche do Angeloni, Quande canta o mâ. Sto testo o l’é stæto muxicou e inseio inte l’albo da Roberta Alloisio Lengua serpentina, e con sta canson s’é tentou unn’originäia fuxon de zeneise e napolitan, doe lengue indissolubilemente ligæ a-a vitta de mâ.

[1] a sciâ Cicchetta: personificaçion da mòrte into parlâ popolare.

Inte sto longo poemmetto o Vigo o conta da seu zoventù, tutt’atro che façile; personaggio ch’o pâ tòsto sciortio da un romanso do Dickens, o Vigo o s’inquaddra ben inte unna çerta idea da Zena de l’Euttoçento, co-i seu ambienti descheiti, donde unna fauna umaña reduta asquæxi a-a despiaçion a se batte tutti i giorni pe sorvevive inte unna lòtta sensa escluxon de corpi; sola speransa de riscatto soçiale, ò de unna vitta un pittin ciù comportabile, quella ch’a depende da l’aggiutto do deputou amigo, da monega e do fratte de bon cheu.

O P. Guidoni o fava osservâ, à propòxito de sta poexia, che, sciben inte l’evidente diverscitæ da reisa poetica, a l’à sens’atro influensou L’òrto do Firpo, co-e seu anafore «Bello pe sempre…», «Bella pe sempre…» etc. e o diva che «o poeta, quæ se segge poeta, o vive da poexia di atri ascì. Di seu predeçessoî e di seu contemporanni. I seu ligammi con atre esprescioin liriche meuian de vòtte into stato de inconscio»; mi dieiva a-a dreitua che a poexia do presente a l’inlumina ascì quella do passou e a â cangia, inte unna continua transformaçion e osmoxi.

[^2]: caviello: «capello», da osservâ l’imitaçion da parlâ rustega; caviello o conserva o dittongo antigamente presente anche into zeneise çittadin (cfr. Giulian Rosso: pielle, “pelle”; lietto, “letto”; etc.).

English translation:
# Giambattista Vigo (1844–1891)

Raised in an orphanage, he was a coal porter and then, studying on his own and through acquaintances, managed to become an elementary school teacher. He collected in _Fili d’erba_ (1889) his Genoese poetic production, very close to the experiences of the Second Italian Romanticism. Vigo was a typical representative of a 19th century Genoese working-class world that did not give up in the face of hardship or even the blackest misery, close to-the poor and the derelict, living as a young man between religious charitable institutions and early socialism with its first workers’ demands. He cultivated a poetry that was at times tearful and romantic in effect, sometimes polemical, sometimes fascinated by the vision of nature’s miracles and popular customs, and anticipates, in his own way, Malinverni, Angeloni and Firpo.

Note the similarity between the title of this poem and that of Angeloni ’s collection of lyrics, Quande canta o mâ. This text was set to music and included in Roberta Alloisio’s album Lingua serpentina. With this song, the author attempted an original fusion of Genoese and Neapolitan, two languages inextricably linked to the sea.

[1] a sciâ Cicchetta: personification of death in the popular parlance.

In this long poem Vigo tells of his youth, which was anything but easy. Vigo – a character who seems almost straight out of a Dickens novel – fits well into a certain image of 19th century Genoa, with its degraded environments, where a human fauna reduced almost to despair fights every day to survive in a no-holds-barred struggle. The only hope for social redemption, or for a slightly more tolerable life, depends on the help of a friend who is a member of parliament, a nun and a good-hearted friar.

P. Guidoni remarked, about this poem, that despite the obvious difference in poetic rendering, it must have undoubtedly influenced L’orto by Firpo, with its anaphora “Bello pe sempre…”, “Bella pe sempre…” etc. and said that “the poet, any poet, also lives by the poetry of others. Of his predecessors and his contemporaries. His links with other lyrical expressions mature sometimes in an unconscious state”. I would even say that the poetry of the present also illuminates that of the past and modifies it, in a continuous transformation and osmosis.

[^2]: caviello: «hair», note the imitation of rural speech; caviello preserves the diphthong once also present in urban Genoese (cf. Giuliano Rossi: pielle, “skin”; lietto, “bed”; etc.).