Ligurian:
# Gioane Casassa (1813–1882)

O Gioane Casassa o l’é l’autô do ciù avvoxou diçionäio zeneise-italian, sciortio inte doe ediçioin, do 1851 e do 1876, e de unna gramatica arrestâ inedita; o l’aiva çercou à mette òrdene inte l’imbròggio da grafia, opeaçion ch’a l’é arriescia solo che in parte e a n’à lasciou in ereditæ un muggio de dubianse e inçertesse che continuan fin a-a giornâ d’ancheu. Ma o l’é stæto ascì un continuatô de l’euvia do Piaggio, e o l’à compilou o Lunäio do Sciô Regiña da-o 1844 a-o 1863 (con l’ecceçion de quello do 1847, quande se n’ea occupou o Luiggi Döia e de quello do 1850, affiou a-o Cristòffa Castellin). Combattivo libeale, a-o conträio do Piaggio, e semeggeive inte idee a-o Pedevilla, o Casassa o l’à pubricou ascì unn’accheuggeita de poexie, A sanfòrnia zeneise (1852 e 1863); a-o de là di testi sccettamente politichi e polemichi, se gh’attreuva ascì de «vixoin», espediente letteräio che in zeneise o remonta fin a-i tempi do Cavallo, se no primma, donde l’autô o l’imagina de incontrâ da influenti personalitæ za deçedue, che l’investan de quarche miscion into mondo di vivi. Into caxo piggiou in examme, o Casassa o l’incontra o Ballin, o pescou de poexie cavalliañe, ch’o l’incarrega de çelebrâ a vegnua in Zena de l’avvoxou predicatô e patriòtta ferrareise Ugo Bassi, che quarche anno apreuvo o moià martire de l’Unitæ d’Italia.

[1] A «Cava» e a «Stria» ean doe ciazze, sotta Caignan, donde oua score a Çirconvallaçion à mâ.

O Casassa o s’imagina che o Cavallo, visciuo – segondo lê – inte unn’epoca retrògrada, unna «sentiña de bacògi», quande un poeta o poeiva sôo che inçensâ i potenti, o l’incoraggisce o poeta moderno à trattâ «argomenti nòbili», oua che i tempi ô permettan; in particolâ, a vegnua à Zena de Ugo Bassi, o gexuita patriòtta.

Dòppo avei vantou e qualitæ do predicatô, che se supoñe o segge mai tanto importante a-i euggi do Casassa in quante patriòtta e repubrican, ciù che comme òmmo de religion, l’ombra do Cavallo a s’allontaña.

English translation:
# Giovanni Casaccia (1813–1882)

Giovanni Casaccia is the author of the most famous Genoese-Italian dictionary, which came out in two editions, in 1851 and 1876, and of a grammar that has remained unpublished. He tried to bring order to Genoese spelling, a plan that succeeded only in part, and bequeathed us many doubts and uncertainties that continue to the present day. But he was also a continuer of the work of Piaggio, and he compiled Lunäio do Sciô Regiña from 1844 to 1863 (with the exception of the 1847 edition, when Luigi Doria took care of it, and the 1850 edition entrusted to Cristoforo Castellini). A combative liberal, in contrast to Piaggio, and similar in ideas to Pedevilla, Casaccia also published a collection of poems, A sanfòrnia zeneise (The Genoese mouth harp; 1852 and 1863). Apart from the clearly political and polemical texts, there are also “visions”, a literary device that in Genoese goes back as far as Cavalli ’s time, if not earlier, where the author imagines meeting influential deceased personalities who invest him with some mission in the world of the living. Here, Casaccia meets Ballin, the fisherman alter ego of Cavalli, who tasks him with celebrating the coming to Genoa of the famous Ferrarese preacher and patriot Ugo Bassi, who a few years later would die a martyr for the Unification of Italy.

[1] “Cava” and “Stria” were two beaches, below Carignano, where nowadays the road known as “Circonvallazione a mare” runs.

Casaccia imagines that Cavalli, who lived – in his mind – in a backward age, a “cesspool of idiots”, when a poet could only glorify the powerful, encourages the modern poet to deal with “noble subjects”, now that times permit. In particular, the arrival in Genoa of Ugo Bassi, the Jesuit patriot.

After boasting of the qualities of the preacher, who is supposed to be so important in Casaccia’s eyes as a patriot and republican rather than as a man of religion, the shadow of Cavalli recedes.