Carlo Porta

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Statue of Carlo Porta, in the "Verzee".

Carlo Porta (June 15, 1775 - January 5, 1821) was an Italian poet, the most famous writer in Milanese (central dialect of Western Lombard language).

1 Biography
2 Works
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Biography

He was born in Milan to Giuseppe Porta and Violante Gottieri, a merchant family.^[1] He studied in Monza until 1792 and then in the Seminario of Milan. In 1796 the Napoleonic Wars pushed Porta to find a job in Venice, where one of his brothers lived, and he remained there until 1799.

From 1804 until his death Porta worked as clergyman. In 1806 he married to Vincenza Prevosti.

He died in Milan in January 1821, of a gout attack. He was buried in the church of San Gregorio, but later his tomb went lost.

[edit] 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, which he, however, left unfinished. In these years the progressive group that formed round him and called themselves the "Camerletta Portiana" included Giuseppe Bossi, who painted a group portrait of four Amici della Camerletta Portiana.

In 1810, Brindisi de Meneghin all'Ostaria (written for Napoleon's return in Milan) was published. His best season began two years later, with Desgrazzi de Giovannin Bongee ("Troubles of Johnny Bolgeri").

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 [literally 'milestones', referred to Frenchmen] who 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 (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.