Giacomo Leopardi

Giacomo Leopardi

1798–1837

Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) was an Italian poet, philosopher and philologist from Recanati in the Marche. A prodigy who taught himself Greek, Latin and Hebrew, he spent a lonely youth in his father’s library and suffered from poor health all his life.

His Canti (1831, enlarged 1835) are the summit of Italian Romantic poetry: “L’infinito”, “A Silvia”, “Il sabato del villaggio” and “La ginestra” combine classical beauty with a bleak view of human destiny. His prose Operette morali and the notebooks Zibaldone set out his philosophy.

Best-known poems

All poems (23)

In French 1

In Spanish 2

Poets of the same era

Alessandro Manzoni 1785–1873 Silvio Pellico 1789–1854 Giuseppe Giusti 1809–1850 Ugo Foscolo 1778–1827 Giuseppe Gioachino Belli 1791–1863