Carlo Porta (June 15, 1775 – January 5, 1821) was an Italian poet, the most famous writer in

Milanese Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to ...

(the prestige dialect of the

Lombard language Lombard (native name: ,Classical Milanese orthography, and . , Ticinese orthography. Modern Western orthography. or ,Eastern unified orthography. depending on the orthography; pronunciation: ) is a language, belonging to the Gallo-Italic family ...

Biography

Porta was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to Giuseppe Porta and Violante Gottieri, a merchant family. He studied in

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

until 1792 and then in the Seminario of Milan. In 1796, the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

pushed Porta to find a job in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

(where one of his brothers lived) and he remained there until 1799. From 1804 until his death, Porta worked as government employee, although he would have been pleased to keep on studying. In 1806, he married Vincenza Prevosti. He died in Milan in January 1821 from an attack of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

and was buried in the Church of San Gregorio. His tomb was subsequently lost, but his tombstone is still conserved in the vault of San Gregorio church, in Milan.

Works

Porta began to write poems in 1790, although few of them were published before 1810. In 1804-1805 he worked at a Milanese translation of the

Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

, which he, however, left unfinished. In these years the progressive group that formed round him and called themselves the "''Cameretta Portiana''" included

Giuseppe Bossi Giuseppe Bossi (11 August 1777 – 9 November 1815) was an Italian painter, arts administrator and writer on art. He ranks among the foremost figures of Neoclassical culture in Lombardy, along with Ugo Foscolo, Giuseppe Parini, Andrea Appi ...

, who painted a group portrait of four ''Amici della Cameretta Portiana''. In 1810, ''Brindisi de Meneghin all'Ostaria'' (written for

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's return in Milan) was published. This was one of many works by Porta featuring

Meneghino Meneghino (; Milanese: ) is a traditional character of the Italian ''commedia dell'arte'', associated to the city of Milan. As such, it also plays a major role in the Milanese celebrations of Carnival ('' Carnevale Ambrosiano'') and in local '' ...

(the traditional

commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

character representing Milan). His best season began two years later, with ''Desgrazzi de Giovannin Bongee'' ("Troubles of Johnny Bolgeri").Treccani.it Enciclopedia italiana
/ref> His works can be divided into three categories: works against superstition and religious hypocrisy, descriptions of vivid Milanese popular characters, and political works. The first one includes ''Fraa Zenever'' ("Brother Juniper", 1813), ''On Miracol'' ("A Miracle", 1813), ''Fraa Diodatt'' ("Brother Adeodato", 1814), ''La mia povera nonna la gh'aveva'' ("My dead granny had...", 1810). His political satires were mainly sonnets, such as ''Paracar che scappee de Lombardia'' ("Scarecrows iterally 'milestones', referred to Frenchmenwho are escaping from Lombardy", 1814), ''E daj con sto chez-nous, ma sanguanon ''("And go on with this 'chez-nous', but bloody Heaven...", a satire about French, 1811), ''Marcanagg i politegh secca ball'' (1815, "Goddam ballbreaker politicians"), ''Quand vedessev on pubblegh funzionari'' ("When I'd see a public officer...", 1812). Porta satirized the upcoming new Milanese aristocracy, too, in ''La nomina del cappellan'' (1819, "The chaplain's appointment"), making a parody of the episode of the "vergine cuccia" ("virgin pet-pup") in ''Il Giorno (Il Mezzogiorno)'', by

Giuseppe Parini Giuseppe Parini (23 May 1729 – 15 August 1799) was an Italian enlightenment satirist and poet of the neoclassic period. Biography Parini (originally spelled Parino) was born in Bosisio (later renamed Bosisio Parini in his honour) in Brianza ...

(a satire itself). His best works are probably those portraying the Milanese popular life, with the collections ''Olter desgrazzi de Giovannin Bongee ''("Other Troubles of Johnny Bolgeri", 1814), ''El lament del Marchionn di gamb avert'' ("The Lament of Melchior the Crippled", 1816) and what is generally considered his masterwork, ''La Ninetta del Verzee'' ("Little Nina, from Greens Market", 1815), a meaningful and heartbreaking monologue/confession of a prostitute. In 1816 Porta joined the Romantic literarian movement (''Sonettin col covon'', "Little sonnet, with a big tail"), obviously in his own way: in the very last strophe, he called himself a dumb, meaning instead the opposite. But see the following issue.

Curiosity

It was in honor of Carlo Porta that Alessandro Manzoni, the father of the contemporary Italian language, wrote his only poem in the

, namely: ''On badee ch’el voeur fà de sapientôn / el se toeu subet via per on badee; / ma on omm de coo ch’el voeur parè minciôn / el se mett anca luu in d'on bell cuntee.'' (A stupid wishing to pose as a clever man / is seen to be a stupid right away; / but a clever man posing as a stupid / is in a nice fix himself as well.)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porta, Carlo 1775 births 1821 deaths Writers from Milan Culture in Milan Italian poets Italian male poets Western Lombard language

Biography

Works

Curiosity

See also

References