Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi
Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi was an Italian poet and journalist born on January 6, 1871, in Genoa, Italy. Coming from a wealthy landowning family, he experienced a tumultuous early life marked by his parents' separation, leading him to maintain a close relationship with his mother until her death in 1892. Although he initially enrolled in law school at the University of Genoa, his passion for writing led him to abandon his studies and pursue journalism, eventually publishing his first poetry collection, "Il libro dei frammenti," in 1895. His work was influenced by the French Symbolists and exhibited a blend of traditional Italian poetic forms with modernist ideas.
Throughout his life, Roccatagliata Ceccardi faced personal hardships, including failed relationships and financial struggles, yet he remained active in the literary community, founding a group of like-minded artists and publishing collections of poetry that reflected his nationalistic sentiments and admiration for nature. His later works, inspired by love and loss, contributed to the transition in Italian poetry during a significant cultural shift in the early 20th century. Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi passed away on August 3, 1919, leaving behind a legacy that bridged classical Italian poetry with the emerging modernist movement.
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Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi
- Born: January 6, 1871
- Birthplace: Genoa, Italy
- Died: August 3, 1919
- Place of death:
Biography
Ceccardo Roccatagliata Ceccardi was born into a wealthy, landowning family on January 6, 1871, in Genoa, Italy. His parents separated shortly after his birth, and he was brought up in his mother’s household. Roccatagliata Ceccardi severed all ties with his father, but he remained close to his mother all of her life.
Roccatagliata Ceccardi attended a secondary school in Massa, where he wrote for the student newspaper. He enrolled in law school at the University of Genoa in 1892. He did not enjoy his studies, however, and chose to take a job as a journalist. He published his first book of poetry, Il libro dei frammenti, in 1895. He dedicated this book to his mother, who had died in 1892. The poems in this volume show the influence of the French Symbolists on young Roccatagliata’s work.
In 1896, Roccatagliata Ceccardi became the editor of a newspaper in Carrara. After an unsuccessful love affair he returned to Genoa, where he reconnected with his literary friends. He was nearly destitute and unable to find employment. However, he was able to publish his poetry in the literary journal La Riviera Ligure.
Although he married in 1901, he was unable to support his wife, who eventually went to live with her family, taking their children with her. He published a cycle of sonnets, Apua mater, in 1905. These poems reveal his patriotic and nationalistic feelings. In 1906, he founded Republican di Apua, a like-minded group of artists and writers. In 1907, he won a contest that allowed him to write an inscription on a plaque for the house where English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley had lived. A great admirer of Shelley, Roccatagliata Ceccardi considered this a significant honor. In 1910, his friends published Sonetti e poemi, a collection of Roccatagliata Ceccardi’s poems that the poet could not afford to publish himself. This collection included many landscape and nature poems.
While in Genoa in 1914, Roccatagliata Ceccardi was hospitalized for arthritis and was again supported by his friends. His wife died in 1918, and he was distraught. Nevertheless, that year he fell in love with a young woman who was the inspiration for several poems that appear in his final collection, Sillable ed ombre, poesie, 1910-1919. Roccatagliata Ceccardi died of a stroke on August 3, 1919.
Roccatagliata Ceccardi’s verse appeared at a transitional moment in Italian poetry. His work reflects both the classical poetry of Italian tradition and the fragmented and allusive quality of the Symbolist poets, setting the stage for twentieth century Italian poetry.