The Romagna of Giacinto Ricci Signorini, a late-nineteenth-century carduccian

Abstract

The essay offers a careful reevaluation of the figure and works of Giacinto Ricci Signorini (1861–1893), a poet and prose writer from Romagna whose production, often overlooked by critics, is permeated by egodystonic melancholy, irreverent irony, and existential unease. At the core of his writing lies a deep and constant interaction between landscape and feeling, in which Romagna becomes a reflection of his inner sufferings. Trained in the school of Giosue Carducci, Ricci Signorini progressively distances himself from it to develop an autonomous and original voice within the late 19th-century literary scene. His main works, Thanatos and Elegie di Romagna, as well as his personal diary, lead him toward what Benedetto Croce aptly defined as a “poesia dolorante”, a poetry that shares a sensibility similar to Giovanni Pascoli’s.