Ligurian:
# Steva De Franchi (1714–1785)

Steva De Franchi, patriçio zeneise nasciuo da unna famiggia ch’a l’aiva dæto ben ben de duxi a-a Repubrica, o ven delongo mensunou pe-e seu poexie popolaresche che antiçipan o Piaggio, visciuo do secolo apreuvo, e ascì pe-e cansoin d’argomento patriòttico, inspiæ a-a sollevaçion do 1746 contra i austropiemonteixi. Se intuisce into poeta o dexidëio de unna parte da nobiltæ d’attiâse e classe popolare, e ciù che tutto i borgheixi, con accheuggili d’in gio à un ideale e renoelâ, tutti insemme, o Stato zeneise d’aloa, ch’o l’ea sclerotizzòu e descheito a-a sola defeisa di interesci de l’aristocraçia. Poemmo de lengê tegnî o De Franchi pe un inluminista, che comme tutti i inluministi o vorriæ portâ o pòpolo à megioâ da maniman e seu condiçioin sociale, guiddou da-i prinçipi da raxon. Ma a-a giornâ d’ancheu quello chi ne corpisce de ciù inta seu euvia no son tanto i seu inni a-a libertæ de Zena, e manco e descriçioin de scituaçioin e de personaggi popolari, comme l’avvoxâ «madònna Parisseua in sciâ ciassa de Pontexello», ma ciù fito a seu veña melancònica, carrega da stanchessa de tutto un mondo che omai o dechinava. Za inte seu evocaçioin de demoe da nobiltæ tra giardin, villezzi, barchezzate e amoî façili se sente un fondo de tristessa. Ma in mainea ancon ciù ciæa sto stato d’animo o se mostrià into sunetto in sciô tæramòtto de Lisboña do 1755.

O De Franchi o l’à vosciuo ëse o poeta da «Naçion zeneise» e inti seu versci son tanti i refeimenti e i reciammi a-i autoî che l’an preçeduo, da l’Anònimo a-o Cavallo; a Lezzendia, chi ven apreuvo chì coscì, a peu fâ pensâ, à exempio, a-i versci do poeta medievale in scê battagge de Laiasso e Curzoa.

O De Franchi o l’é da arregordâ ascì comme autô de tiatro: e sò traduçioin da Moliére, Regnard e Palaprat ciù che atro son de imitaçioin e adattamenti, donde o comediografo o l’à piggiou intressi e personaggi e o n’à fæto quarcösa de neuvo, ch’o poeiva vegnî à taggio pe rappresentâ a realtæ de Zena. Beseugna dî che o poeta zeneise o no se preuva manco à arentîse a-o Moliére «tragico», de Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope, ò Dom Juan, che à niatri o peu piaxei de ciù, ma che o l’é ascì tròppo ligou a-e polemiche religiose, politiche e filosòfiche di seu tempi; in cangio o De Franchi o travaggia in sce de tramme sensa tempo, de sola demoa, che se fan apprexâ pe-o zeugo còmico de scituaçioin e into mæximo momento o fa revive personaggi che alantô fan za parte do tiatro zeneise, comme o Capoâ fanfaron, a servetta maiçiosa, o vegio innamoou e avaro ch’o se rende ridicolo. Inte sta tiata, ch’a l’é træta da _O maiezzo pe fòrsa_ (_Le mariage forcé_) e a no se treuva into testo originaio do Moliére, o sordatto Ormondo, neuva incarnaçion da mascara zeneise do Capoâ, o pâ fiña un paente do Baron de Munchhausen, pe-a stranessa de seu fanfaronaie.

English translation:
# Stefano De Franchi (1714–1785)

Steva De Franchi, a Genoese patrician born into a family that had given several doges to the Republic, is always remembered for his popular poems that precede Piaggio, who lived in the following century, and also for his songs on patriotic subjects, inspired by the 1746 uprising against the Austro-Piedmontese. One can sense in the poet the desire of a part of the nobility to attract the popular classes, and above all the bourgeoisie, gathering them around an ideal and renewing, all together, the Genoese state of the time, sclerotized and fallen to the sole defence of the interests of the aristocracy. We can easily consider De Franchi an Enlightenment man, who like all his peers would like to lead the people to gradual improvements in the social condition, under the guidance of the principles of reason. But nowadays, what strikes us most in his work are not so much the hymns to Genoa’s freedom, nor the descriptions of popular situations and characters, such as the famous “Mrs Cinciallegra on the square of Ponticello”, but rather his melancholic vein, charged with the weariness of an entire world that was now declining. Already in his evocations of the pastimes of the nobility, amid gardens, villas, boating and easy love affairs, one senses a depth of sadness. But this state of mind appears even more clearly in the sonnet on the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

De Franchi wanted to be the poet of the “Genoese nation” and numerous, in his verses, are the citations and references to the authors that preceded him, from the Anonym to Cavalli; the Lezzendia that follows may remind us of, for instance, the medieval poet’s verses on the battles of Laiazzo and Korčula.

De Franchi is also to be remembered as a playwright: his translations from Molière, Regnard and Palaprat are more like imitations and adaptations, from which the playwright took plots and characters and made something new out of them that could serve to represent the Genoese reality. It must be said that the Genoese poet does not even try to come close to the “tragic” Moliére of Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope, or Dom Juan, which we might like better, but which is also too closely linked to the religious, political and philosophical quarrels of his time; Instead, De Franchi works on timeless plots, of mere amusement, which are appreciated for the comic play of situations and at the same time revives characters that were already part of Genoese theatre at the time, such as the fanatical corporal, the mischievous servant girl, the old man in love and miserly man who makes a fool of himself. In the following tirade, which is taken from _O maiezzo pe fòrsa_ (_Le mariage forcé_) and which is not found in Moliére’s original text, the soldier Ormondo, a new incarnation of the Genoese mask of the corporal, seems almost a relative of the Baron of Munchhausen, due to the strangeness of his boasting.