Lucio Piccolo di Calanovella (October 27, 1901 in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

– May 26, 1969 in

Capo d'Orlando Capo or capos, may refer to: Designation, akin to captain *Capo, short for ''Caporegime A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position ...

) was an Italian poet and esotericist.

Biography

Lucio Piccolo e Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Lucio Piccolo, also known as Baron Lucio Piccolo di Calanovella, was first cousin to

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE (23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957), known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (), was a Sicilian writer, nobleman, and Prince of Lampedusa. He is most famous for his only novel, '' ...

, the author of ''

The Leopard ''The Leopard'' ( ) is a novel by Italian writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the ''Risorgimento''. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the ...

''. Piccolo endowed himself with a vast library and mastered the major languages of the European literary tradition (as well as

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

), while living a life of relative solitude. He was also a very capable pianist, though he never performed publicly. He shared a "pastoral"Gilmour (1988), p. 76. home in Capo d'Orlando, Sicily, with his mother, his sister Giovanna, and his brother Casimiro. All four were

spiritualists Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least ...

; his brother Casimiro was a painter in a style resembling

Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...

. In 1954, aged 50, he published in a private edition a "plaquette" containing nine lyric poems which he mailed to

Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 'for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has ...

. The postage costs were grossly underestimated by the sender (35 lire), and to take possession of the book, Montale had to make up the difference by paying a further 150 lire. Montale, impressed by the high quality of the poetry of this unfamiliar writer, invited Lucio Piccolo to participate in the San Pellegrino Literary Meeting. Upon meeting Piccolo face-to-face, Montale was taken almost completely by surprise: he had expected that this previously unknown author would be a young man, not a baron in his fifties. Piccolo's works were published that year as ''Canti barocchi e altre liriche'' ("Baroque Songs and other Lyrics"). A letter accompanying the volume sent to is Montale, stated Piccolo's intention to capture the world and atmosphere of Palermo's churches and convents, and the case of mind of people associated with them, before the memory of them, fast fading, died completely. However, that letter was almost certainly written by di Lampedusa, not by Piccolo himself.

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (Bologna, 4 March 1916 – Rome, 13 April 2000) was an Italians, Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where h ...

, in his preface to the first edition of ''The Leopard'' wrote that Piccolo's poems ranked as the best forms of pure lyric produced in Italy at that time. His poetry was appreciated by

Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

and

Pound Pound or Pounds may refer to: Units * Pound (currency), various units of currency * Pound sterling, the official currency of the United Kingdom * Pound (mass), a unit of mass * Pound (force), a unit of force * Rail pound, in rail profile * A bas ...

, as well as by

Montale Montale may refer to: *Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 'for his distinctive poetry whi ...

Works

* ''9 liriche'', Sant'Agata di Militello, 1954 (self-published) * ''Canti barocchi e altre liriche'', preface by Eugenio Montale, Mondadori, Milan, 1956 * ''Gioco a nascondere. Canti barocchi e altre liriche,'' preface by Eugenio Montale, Mondadori, Milan, 1960; reprinted 1967 * ''Plumelia,'' All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Milan, 1967 * ''La Seta e altre poesie inedite e sparse,'' ed. Giovanni Musolino and Giovanni Gaglio, All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Milan, 1984 * ''Il raggio verde e altre poesie inedite'', ed. Giovanna Musolino, All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Milan, 1993 * ''Le esequie della luna e alcune poesie inedite'', ed. Giovanna Musolino, All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Milan, 1996 * ''Antologia poetica'', ed. Giuseppe Celona, All'insegna del pesce d'oro, Milan, 1999 * ''Canti barocchi e Gioco a nascondere'', Scheiwiller, V, 2001 * ''Plumelia. La seta. Il raggio verde e altre poesie'', preface by Pietro Gibellini, Scheiwiller, V, 2001 * ''L'oboe e il clarino'', Scheiwiller, Milan 2002 * ''9 liriche'', Museo Lucio Piccolo, Ficarra, 2010

References

External links

Foundation Lucio Piccolo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccolo, Lucio 1901 births 1969 deaths Writers from Palermo Italian male poets 20th-century Italian poets Sicilian-language poets 20th-century Italian male writers