Italian Literature

Italian literature began after the founding of Rome in 753 BC. Roman, or Latin literature, was and still is highly influential in the world, with numerous writers, poets, philosophers, and historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Pliny the Younger, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid and Livy. The Romans were also famous for their oral tradition, poetry, drama and epigrams.

The basis of the modern Italian Literature in the Italian language was shaped by three great writers of the 1300s — Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio. Their language and their works were imitated by Italian writers for hundreds of years. Dante's The Divine Comedy is a masterpiece of world poetry. Boccaccio's Decameron is one of the most popular collections of short stories ever written. Petrarch's love poetry served as a model for centuries.

Italian Renaissance authors produced a number of important works. Among the best known is The Prince, a political science essay written by Niccolò Machiavelli in 1513 and published in 1532. Italian drama developed in the 1600s, especially in the style called commedia dell'arte. These comedies were based on the improvisation of certain characters and became very popular. An outstanding writer of the Baroque period was Metastasio, and Carlo Goldoni was the most prominent playwright of the 18th century.

The time of Italy's rebirth was heralded by the poets Vittorio Alfieri, Ugo Foscolo, and Giacomo Leopardi. Alessandro Manzoni was the principal Italian novelist of the 19th century, and Francesco de Sanctis the greatest literary critic. Among the Italian literary figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Giosuè Carducci, Giovanni Verga, Gabriele d'Annunzio, Luigi Pirandello, and Grazia Deledda achieved international renown. Leading writers of the postwar era are Ignazio Silone, Alberto Moravia, Italo Calvino, Umberto Eco, Dario Fo, and the poets Salvatore Quasimodo and Eugenio Montale.