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Other Voices. A Collection of Essays on Italian Regional Culture and Language

:	John Staulo
:	Other Voices. A Collection of Essays on Italian Regional Culture and Language
:	Digitalia
:	9780916379735
:	1
:	CHF 50.10
:

:	Allgemeine und Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft
:	English

:	163
:	DRM
:	PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
:	PDF

A collection of six original and brilliantly-written studies on the linguistic, cultural, and literary contributions of Italian regional writings. Recommended for students of Italian, comparative literature, folklore.

Introduction (p. 7)

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire, Italy among all the other Roman possessions: Spain, Portugal, France, England, Germany, was to remain for centuries the most politically splintered from one end of the peninsula to the other.

The period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance is known as the Middle Ages. This period is characterized by many diverse and turbulent elements: barbarian invasions, feudal principalities, maritime cities, communes,"signorie," and powerful monarchies. The continuous struggles between Papacy and emperors brought about an entrenched feudal society with all its power concentrated in the hands of the nobility as the masses fell deeper into servile conditions.

As the feudal lords, the Guelfs and Gibellines, struggled for power and wealth in the north, new powerful maritime Republics sprang up along the Italian coast. Many coastal cities like Amalfi, Naples, Gaeta, Bari, Venice, Pisa and Geneva achieved outstanding economic prosperity and political independence.

Thus the communes, which were later to assume the characteristics of real city-states where nobles and the new merchant class vied for political and economic power, and the new maritime republics, emerged as great political entities. These new powerful regional entities competed head on with all the other major European cities for power and wealth. Milan and Florence in the north became two of the most powerful communes and were in constant struggle against the communes of Cremona, Pavia, Como and Lodi.

In the llth century there was a feint attempt by Barbarossa, the German emperor, to restore the continuity of the empire, but the communes formed the"Lombard League" and brought that imperial attempt to an abrupt end with the treaty of Constance which reassured their political and economic autonomy. The communes soon blossomed into even stronger political and economic entities giving birth to a political structure the"signorie."

Among the powerful"signorie" that were to emerge there were the Medici of Florence, the Scaligeri of Verona, the Visconti of Milano, the Estensi of Ferrara, the Bentivoglios of Bologna, the Gonzagas of Mantova. These wealthy families or"signorie" reigned with absolute power and lived in lavish wealth. This period, however, was to produce a refined society of great artists and writers which was to achieve its splendor during the Renaissance.

The period of the Renaissance saw Italy`s lack of political unity as an easy invitation for ambitious foreign powers to prey on its soil. And so first came Charles the VIII of France, then Spain and Germany under Charles the V. The Spanish domination was to last for nearly two centuries. This prolonged political unrest caused by the domination of foreign powers deeply accentuated the political fragmentation of the many regions of the peninsula from Sicily to the Piedmont.

Before the historical process of the"Risorgimento" would reach its final fruition, Italy had still to undergo severe political struggles of major proportions. The new ideas of the French Revolution brought by the armies of Napoleon were well received. For if the call to freedom, equality and fraternity was good for the French, it was to be even better for the politically splintered city-states of Italy.

	Contents	8
	Preface	12
	General Bibliography	13
	Introduction	18
	Tradizione dialettale Monregalese	29
	Carloforte, an island within an island: Old Genovese dialect in Sardinia	46
	Religious Echoes in the Poetry of Salvatore di Giacomo	78
	The Poetry of Giovanni Meli: Sicilian Poet	90
	Di La Signura Laura Lanza Signura di Carnini and its relation to La Barunessa di Carnini	128
	La	128
	La	128
	145	128