Ligurian:
# Giulian Rosso (sec. XVI–1657)

O Giulian Rosso, nasciuo à Sestri Ponente inta segonda meitæ do sec. XVI e mòrto pe-a peste do 1657, o prattica unna smersa de poexia areo despægia da quella do seu contemporaneo Cavallo; tanto sto chì o l’é un letterou sottî e peisafumme inta seu reçerca de conçetti elaboæ, espresci inte ‘n stile elevou, atretanto o Rosso o veu dâ à divedde d’ëse un poeta façile e «popolare»; in sciâ fin, o l’é l’esponente de unna corrente de poexia che ancheu ciammemmo propiamente «dialettale» e che in zeneise a vegnià maggioritäia solo che à meitæ do secolo XIX. A ciù parte da poexia do Rosso, fæta de versci d’occaxon, de parodie, caregatue, e anche de versci amoxi, che scazzan voentea into còmico, a l’é inedita, spantegâ inte ‘n muggio de manoscriti de spesso in contradiçion fra lô. Avvoxou comme intrategnitô, òspite fisso inte case patriçie da Zena d’aloa, de sta seu attivitæ o n’aiva fæto un mestê, ma unna vitta tròppo sguassosa a l’à fæto cazze in misëia, fin à fâghe conosce a prexon pe debiti. De fæto, tutta unna parte da seu produçion a l’é dedicâ a-a meditaçion in sciâ misëia umaña, comme inte Rime Morali donde o conta a seu espeiensa inte prexoin da Repubrica. Ma anche inti momenti ciù greivi, o Rosso o no renonçia mai a-a battua còmica, tanto che a seu poexia ciù conosciua a l’é fòscia a descriçion da peste do 1657, quella dond’o perdià a vitta; ma chì i seu mocchetti piggian unna cadensa da danse macabre, son o commento amao, fòscia fiña in desdaxo, a-a fin de un mondo de presuminoxi babacci, gròsci e piccin, che scentan pe delongo: «Gh’é chi tutto ro dì çercando beghe / con levâse ògni mosca da ro naso / o no peu, seppellio in leugo spaso / levâsene mirioin, che n’an a e neghe».

Inte sto poemetto, o Giulian Rosso o conta da tremenda pestegadda do 1657, inta quæ lê mæximo o l’à dapeu perso a vitta. A sciätâ vixonaietæ de imagine, o zeugo de poule conçettista inte sto caxo ascì en fonçionali à l’aspio moraliximo do poeta; i zeneixi vëgnan gastigæ pe-i seu peccoei e peuan speâ solo che inta miseicòrdia diviña. Drento à mai tanta erlia, inta memöia do lettô o sorvevive pe delongo quello «rumô infinitiscimo de gente», ch’o reciòcca ciù viægi inta çittæ desconsâ da-a pedemmia e da-a cattivëia di òmmi.

[1] Bubboin: anche in giornâ se ghe dixe bugna pe intende un travaggio fæto a-a biscöchiña. [2] carbuoin: tumoî roscigni che davan da accapî che o maròtto o l’aiva ciù pöco fî in sciâ rocca.

No beseugna ascordâse che a ciù tanta poexia do Rosso a l’é poexia còmica e d’occaxon; con anteçipâ de doì secoli o Piaggio e e «campagnate» do Sciô Regiña, o Rosso o ne conta e avventue do seu viægio à Venexa, con unna brancâ de amixi invexendoin. Un di seu testi ciù avvoxæ.

[1] antiga canson tutta in loude di vestî de uña.

English translation:
# Giuliano Rossi (16th cent.–1657)

Giuliano Rossi, who was born in Sestri Ponente in the second half of the 16th century and died of the plague in 1657, practised a completely different kind of poetry from that of his contemporary Cavalli; while Cavalli was a subtle and sophisticated man of letters in his search for elaborate concepts expressed in a lofty style, Rossi wanted to appear as an easy and popular poet; he was the exponent of a poetic current that we nowadays call “dialectal” and that in the Genoese dialect would only become the dominant one towards the end of the 19th century. Most of Rossi’s poetry, made up of occasional verses, parodies, caricatures, and even love verses, which frequently lapse into the comic, is unpublished, scattered in a large number of manuscripts, often contradicting each other. Famous as an entertainer, a regular guest in the aristocratic houses of Genoa at the time, he had made a profession out of this activity, but an overly luxurious life caused him to fall into misery, to the point of prison for debt. In fact, a whole part of his production is dedicated to meditation on human misery, as in his Rime Morali, where he recounts his experience in the prisons of the Republic. But even in the most serious moments, Rossi never renounces comic banter, so much so that his best known poem is perhaps his description of the plague of 1657, the one where he lost his life, but here his barbs take on a danse macabre cadence, they are the bitter, perhaps even unintentional, commentary on the end of a world of presumptuous puppets, large and small, who disappear forever: “There are those who all day long looking for trouble / took every fly out of their noses / and now they can’t – buried in the open – / take off the millions that are in their buttocks”.

In this poem, Giuliano Rossi recounts the terrible plague of 1657, in which he himself was to lose his life. The distraught visionary imagery, the conceptualist wordplay, again serve the poet’s harsh moralism; the Genoese are punished for their sins and can only hope in divine mercy. In such anguish, that “endless noise of people”, which resounds again and again in the city shattered by the epidemic and human wickedness, survives forever in the reader’s memory.

[1] Bubboin: even today we say bugna to mean a job badly done. [2] carbuoin: reddish tumours that suggested the sick person had very little thread left on the distaff.

One mustn’t forget that most of Rossi’s poetry is comic poetry and poetry of occasion; anticipating Piaggio and Signor Regina’s scampagnate by centuries, Rossi recounts the adventures of his trip to Venice with a group of bewildered friends. One of his most famous texts.

[1] an ancient song, all in praise of a woman’s garments.