MARIO RAPISARDI

Poet and deep thinker.

Professor of Italian literature at the University of Catania. The poetry of his work took place for sincere belief in philosophical, political and social rationalist. To youth opera followed the philosophical poems, "Palingenesis" singing the agreement between faith and progress; "Lucifer" sings of religious rebellion; "Job" in which the biblical hero is taken as a symbol of humanity; "Atlantis" socialist-inspired, which is followed by "justice". He also wrote epigrams and was distinguished translator of Lucretius, Catullus, Horace and Shelley.

Biography Mario Rapisarda

(Rapisardi is then called, in implicit homage to one of his favorite authors, Leopardi) was born in Catania February 25, 1844 in via Penninello 33 -traversa via Etnea-. In March 1883 he went to live in the area of ​​Piazza S. Maria of Jesus, exactly in the cottage Caudullo, via Cifali, and there he remained until July 1885. His father, a wealthy solicitor, while not politically engaged, had ideas liberal and friend of some of the revolutionaries Bourbon shot in '37. Mario, in addition to love literature and history, discreetly played the violin and cultivated painting. He was educated by the Jesuits. In '59 he began with the Ode to St. Agatha Virgin and Martyr Catania. Avid reader of Alfieri, Monti, Foscolo, Leopardi and various authors Risorgimento, he wrote, was a teenager, a war hymn, agli'italiani and incopiuto poem Dione, in whose preface exalts the battle of Solferino, Palestro and Magenta, participating so political atmosphere of those months, which ended the Bourbon monarchy. To satisfy his father, he attended a legal studies, but will not come to graduate. Instead I am very interested in the study of Greek and Latin classics, suggest that the first translations, philological and philosophical research positivist character. Fruits of this formative period the poem Fausta and Crispus and the Cantos.

Nel'65 left for Florence, then capital of the Kingdom, for the centenary of the birth of Dante, which he devoted the ode recited on that occasion, and here, in an atmosphere lit by Mazzini ferments and Republicans, became friends with poets Dall ' Ongaro, Prati, Aleardi, Fusinato, Maffei, the learned Pietro Fanfani, with the orientalist De Gubernatis and other leading artists and intellectuals.

'68 publishes his first poem, The Palingenesis, where in 10 polimetri songs is a song in Rome, he condemned the corruption of the clergy and defends the moralizing action of Luther, looked forward with the art and science blend the return of Christianity to the purity original. So it begins: "Let the principle yourself, light inconsumata / Of Truth: coeval to God you shine / For the dawn of time..." The success of the work (Verga was one of the first to congratulate) echoes also abroad ( Victor Hugo is one of the most significant estimators), while the municipality of Catania gives the author a gold medal and the Minister Correnti called him to teach Italian literature on campus Catania.

In 85 he married an eighteen hired as secretary, Amelia Poniatowski, daughter of unknown parents: he will be faithful companion for life. The name of Rapisardi, remained in shadow for the whole period of fascism, emerged thanks to the Marquis Concept studies, Asor, The Pen and Saglimbeni.

MARIO RAPISARDI

BED AND BREAKFAST BAOBAB, Piazza Armerina