Original subtitles

After six months of study, the three Leopardi siblings,

Count Giacomo Taldegardo, age nine,

Count Carlo Orazio, age eight,

Countess Paolina, age seven,

on January 30th, 1808 exhibit themselves

in the following performance, under the guidance of their father,

Count Monaldo.

Transibulo, age forty,

for a lost bet, must give Tantillo

as many scudi as he has hourly minutes of time.

How many scudi must he pay '?

Twenty-one million...

and twenty-four thousand scudi.

Now let us put to trial the skill of my first-born, Giacomo

with a difficult exercise.

Pompilio,

for a tribute of 4 thousand 613 scudi, at 5 percent,

is owed arrears for three years, two months and four days.

What is his due '?

Well '?

Giacomo...

Forbidden

Thank you.

Why don't you use a knife '?

I'm tired of saying it.

Giacomo has written some beautiful verses.

A lyric poem: "To Italy".

- Will you read it '? - As soon as I'm able.

Giacomo, what's wrong '?

Forgive me, I'll resume immediately.

Run for the salts I

I can't do it I

Damn it I

I had to leave the carriage at Porta Cerasa.

It broke again I How did you fix it '?

I told you to wait, that Wood's no good.

- But you took my money! - I did the work!

Take him away.

- Look at this! - If I use it, it'll break.

Dad I

- It broke again '? - What's so funny '?

I'll be right up and give you a thrashing.

So, Giacomo is being groomed for an ecclesiastical career.

It's his destiny.

He's the first-born, but he's too frail.

His bones are deforming,

I fear he may develop a hump.

He studies too much I

Balloons, handlebars,

tools of every sort, all so useless!

On the other hand, he's made great progress in philology.

Exceptional progress, he received plaudits from Akerblad!

You wish him to be a philologist like that boring Akerblad '?

You wish him to spend his days in the sterile occupation

of commenting ancient authors '?

Philology is a valued discipline.

I persist in saying

that all Giacomo knows and will know

must serve not to make a dreary complier of him,

but to make him a great prelate, a great cardinal.

Monaldo, you must consent that he come to Rome.

He will stay with us,

Marianna and I will invigilate scrupulously

on his behavior.

He'll have the opportunity to know the world

and be known himself.

His absence would cause me unspeakable suffering.

As for his own happiness,

you may be sure it is all in studying

and he can study here better than elsewhere.

We've spoken little lately.

I seem to bother you!

When I speak to you, you reply with skimpy, skimpy words.

As if your heart

found some hindrance in nearing mine.

While it wishes to be seen but once,

for a single instant,

and that would be enough for it.

Father, a letter's come from Uncle Carlo.

He'd like Giacomo to help him translate an inscription in Hebrew.

Nothing can be denied to your mother's brother.

Tell Don Vincenzo to accompany Giacomo.

May I go with him '?

You may.

We'll make up your studies after dinner.

Wait I

Don't run like that I

You've finished I How did it go '?

He translated on the spot, in a flash.

My Lord Count will be pleased.

- My Lord Uncle... - Marquise... Let's go.

Come on, come on!

Look.

You said ya'd learn me to read.

You're never around.

I'm extremely busy.

I'm writing a lyric poem on a monument for Dante

which they're preparing in Florence.

Who knows when they'll build it.

Forgive me.

LISP-

The night is soft and bright

and without wind,

and the moon hangs still above the roofs and kitchen gardens,

showing every mountain clear in the distance.

Oh my lady.

Every lane is quiet now,

and night lights glow in the windows only here and there.

You sleep,

for sleep came easily to you in your still room.

No worry troubles you,

nor can you imagine what a wound you opened

in my heart.

Yes, you sleep,

while I come to my window, to salute this sky

that seems so kind,

and eternal, all-commanding nature,

who created me for suffering.

"I cannot pray you to read my book, but do not refuse it...

The book itself, revealing my insignificance, will punish me".

My insignificance '?

Wasn't the reaction to your preface enough '?

That was really terrible.

"I kneel before the scholars of Italy to plead to them... "

Et cetera, et cetera...

In fact, the scholars reacted with silence.

A certain F. C. did speak up, he sure did!

Rudely, impolitely.

Will you stop harassing me and send my letters '?

One to Vincenzo Monti, one to Angelo Mai, one to Pietro Giordani.

But it is for Ulysses, the fearless,

that my heart is torn.

Hapless man...

Who, far from his loved ones,

has long been suffering woes

on an isle...

l”:

sea-girt isle,

which... which for the sea,

is the navel.

Giacomo, that's Homer I

Yes Father, but "omphalos" is navel.

Which for the sea is the navel.

My Lord Count, the post.

But for Ulysses the wise...

There's a new letter from Pietro Giordani for you.

Hadn't you already replied '?

- You won't read it '? - I'll finish this passage first.

When we've finished, I'll read it.

Hapless man...

far from his loved ones...

Far from... his loved ones...

"Most excellent sir...

you shall reach sublime heights...

in 1900 Count Leopardi, whom I already love,

shall be numbered among the first who shall,

evil lost, restore honor to the country...

Giacomo I

Most esteemed and dearest sir,

that I should read Giordani's words, that he should write me,

that I may I hope to have him as a teacher from now on,

are things I can scarcely believe.

My dearest Giacomo, if I speak of our studies,

it will not be as your teacher.

I believe to be a writer, one must translate before composing,

as in painting one copies the drawings of masters

and then compose in prose before composing in verse.

But when I translate, I get a violent craving to compose,

my soul greatly swells in all its parts and I tell myself:

"This is poetry,

to express what I feel takes verses, not prose I"

And so I get right down to writing verses.

If you Jove poetry more, so be it!

The more you write me, the more reason I have to love and admire you.

Who in Italy today could jest like you 7?

Greek hymns and Anacreontic odes.

And who, among the erudite, could philosophize with such nuance 7?

Your words inflame and flatter me,

but let it be known that what We written thus far,

I've condemned to darkness.

It's really going to pour tonight! Look at the sky!

It's as black as your hat.

“Milk?

Where's this firefly from '?

Dunno, it's the first one I've seen.

My dearest young Count, the canticle you sent

is not to burn, but it unsettled a fear.

It is in the philosopher not to love life and have a just fear of death,

but to be obsessed by a continuous thought of death

shouldn't prevail in the young man you are,

to whom nature has consented to live yet at length.

My beloved Giordani,

I have a great, perhaps immoderate and insolent desire for glory,

but I believe I'm incapable of overcoming my nature.

My health is extremely frail

and affected by the labors I made it suffer for many years

of mad, desperate study.

My young Count, then moderate your studies.

If your body goes to ruin, how will you continue 7?

Invigorate the body:

take walks, ride, dance!

Your land is a pleasant, healthy place.

Don't speak to me of Recanati!

It is so dear to me as to develop ideas

for a treatise of hatred for the fatherland.

My fatherland is Italy,

its language, its literature.

If this sacred thought were in many, we'd already have Italy...

a lady of provinces and not a brothel female.

It is worthwhile to the wise to love his native place.

Within the home are comforts for study

that are not found in any other place.

Who'd have thought Giordani would have defended Recanati!

Here, my very dear sir,

all is death,

all is absence of wit and stupidity.

Do you believe that a great talent would be appreciated here 7?

I tell you without hauteur

that here they consider me a boy

and most add appellatives such as know-it-all, philosopher,

hermit and what-all.

The air in this city is extremely changeable,

damp, brackish, cruel to the nerves.

And to all this, add the obstinate,

black, horrible, brutal melancholy

that erodes and devours me.

What pastimes do you mean?

The only pastimes here are studies,

the only pastime is that which is killing me,

all the rest is boredom.

Fernando I

What's he doing '?

Inspecting the letters.

And he makes those from Giordani vanish.

Are you sure '?

I haven't received any for days,

it's impossible he hasn't written.

In his last, he asked me to come to him in Milan.

If only I were mine, I'd fly to him!

My dearest Giacomo...

I'd fly!

I must go to Rome, I won't take the shorter route through Tuscany,

but the route through Loreto, to visit you.

Giacomino my friend,

I showed your poems to intelligent friends who don't praise easily

and they became enthused with so much praise

and you were admired with such veneration,

that Dante couldn't have had more.

Your lyric poems are going around like electric fire,

everyone is possessed by them.

You are exclaimed as a miracle.

I await you with such impatience, Giordani my friend,

devoured by melancholy

and seething with desires.

Bored, angry,

drinking these bitter days that haven't the slightest sweetness.

Having waited so long for your visit, now that it nears...

every passing day seems like a century

and not knowing how to fill it,

I grind my heart till bursting it.

Giacomo I

Come I

Monaldo Leopardi.

- Welcome, Mr. Giordani! - Thank you.

"Imam.

How could he race off like that... so fast!

Without waiting for you.

He's never been out alone.

Giordani's visit to our son is a great honor for us.

L' “xii-tn”

Girls, say hello to His Lordship the Count.

Good day, Your Lordship.

Where's the carriage '?

The young Counts took it, with that gentleman.

To go where '?

Nearby, Loreto, Macerata, I don't know!

Is this coach free '?

And so, due to the magic of these great arts,

the walls of the churches and buildings became...

talking stories.

The eye,

admiring these object at length,

examples of virtue and courage,

sculpts similar feelings within us

and little by little our determination

is formed to act, fight.

Touch it.

Touch it I

You too.

In churches like this, one does not come only to pray.

And so sir, you leave us after a mere five days.

We are saddened.

My children have certainly received extraordinary benefits

from your valued conversations

and they will miss you.

I can only thank you deeply for your coming.

It is I who thanks you, Monaldo.

May I call you that '?

Your children are immensely fortunate

to develop in a library such as the one you created.

Works like these are immortal benefits for our country,

they set an extraordinary example.

Think what a fine revolution it would be, if our youth

duplicated them... multiplied them I

I fully share your conviction,

with one exception regarding the word

"revolution", which you certainly used as a metaphor,

but which I prefer to avoid,

never having been seduced by its flattery.

One can be free, in truth,

one must be, if he's not cowardly,

but the basis and frontiers of true freedom

are the faith in Jesus Christ and fidelity to the legitimate Sovereign.

Outside these confines,

one is not a free man, but a dissolute.

Naturally I

Not reading to me anymore '?

I'm a little jealous of all the things that stay in your head.

I start so many projects,

four lives wouldn't be enough to do them all.

I feel them coming, I can't stop them,

each has its own reason,

sometimes even contrary to what I'd started to sketch

then my mind starts talking to itself...

jabbering.

- And your "Zibaldone" '? - It's proceeding.

How can anyone ever read all these thoughts, one after the other '?

You'd never understand anything.

There's an order,

it's a system.

I know: it's a system that introduces

a skepticism which is reasoned and demonstrated.

And such that, despite any possible progress,

human reason can never strip itself of it,

because it contains the truth.

What does the truth consist of'?

It consists in doubt.

Human reason cannot find the truth without doubting,

it distances itself every time it judges with certainty.

He who doubts, knows, he knows the most of all.

Couldn't do a thing I

She was so beautiful, so good...

so young 5

Raimondo, try to find peace,

age doesn't matter, the way does.

Did she receive the last rites '?

Yin.

And did she show Christian resignation during her illness '?

- She couldn't even speak! - Don't cry anymore.

The day God calls one of His souls to Himself is a happy day.

What are you doing, My Lord Count'?

Carlo '?

Want me to open the window a bit'?

No, the pain in my eyes never ceases.

Go back to studying.

Thank you.

Here's your passport.

Coming to me was a good idea

and I'm very pleased that the Count, my cousin,

decided to give you the opportunity to see the world.

I'll write him

to congratulate him, wishing him

all good things for your journey.

Don't disturb yourself, please.

My father sends his affectionate greetings and thanks you through me.

He's quite occupied with the drafting of a treatise

and every letter, even as welcome as yours, would seem a bother to him.

Actually he delegated me to tell you he'll write you himself...

as soon as he's able.

As you like.

Thank you.

That's enough, it won't hold it.

You keep them all

and defend them, I have nothing more precious.

Don't go.

Never tire of loving me.

Go...

Go!

We can go!

Here's the amount we said.

Pietro Giordani.

He was the ill omen of our family,

his coming was the moment

my children changed thought and conduct,

and perhaps the moment I lost them forever.

Until that day, never, literally never,

had they been out of my sight or that of their mother I

That scoundrel

excited in them sentiments which are contrary to their duties.

That's not true.

Then, he was incautious, fueling you with his talk...

and cruel to me,

while keeping the most rigorous silence.

Giordani put Giacomo in contact with various scholars.

There are dangerous, restless souls among these people,

who invite him to share their ideas,

to make him the primary supporter of their subversive designs.

What do you have to say '?

My father blames scholars whom I barely know...

without realizing I'd made the decision to flee

since I realized my condition...

and your...

immutable principles,

in other words, since forever.

Father, I love you as tenderly

as a son can love his father.

If you will procure for me the means to go out,

I shall be grateful and respectful.

If not, what should have occurred but did not,

is merely postponed.

I don't want to live in Recanati I

I never believed I was to live and die like our forefathers.

I beseech you...

I beseech you...

You hate me,

you depict me in your crooked imagination

as an inexorable tyrant.

The fact is, your nature changed with the arrival of Giordani.

It wouldn't surprise me if that miserable renegade

also instilled a lack of religious belief in you.

What are you saying I

May a similar blasphemy never reach Adelaide's ears.

My dear nephew,

you aspire to literary fame,

but you have contracted a pernicious moral disease.

I have no ambition.

I hate this vile prudence

that petrifies us, binds us.

I hate, I hate this prudence,

this vile prudence

that petrifies us,

it binds us!

It renders every grand action impossible, father!

It reduces us to animals

attending only to the preservation of their own lives,

miserable, with no other thought!

...with no other thought.

Do you really think you know philosophy '?

Do you think you've read the greatest French and English writers '?

No, let me speak with frankness.

It was not the merit of your poems,

but their objectives which received the praise of so many liberals.

Your father has the obligation to open your eyes

and make you realize that your God-given talents

must be used to contrast rampant abject materialism,

to fight the revolutionary ideas plaguing Italy,

to go from belles-lettres to good literature,

because the responsibility will be his, if your talents

are not directed to this end.

Put off that brooding face,

lift that curved head,

open that mouth so persistently closed

when you are with your family and not talking of literature.

And especially, repent,

repent for making your parents suffer so!

My beloved Giordani,

since March I have been plagued by an obstinate frailty of ocular nerves

which impedes not only all reading,

but even! contention of the mind.

As for the rest, I'm well in body

and in soul, as ardent and desperate as ever,

so much so, I'd eat the paper I write on.

Will I never do anything great?

Not even now that I slam against this cage like a bear,

in this land of friars and in this damned house,

where they'd pay a fortune were I to become a friar too,

while, willing or not, they make me live like a friar.

And with this heart of mine,

be sure that very shortly I will escape...

unless from friar, I convert to apostle and flee, begging aims,

as the thing will most certainly end up.

This lonely hill was always dear to me,

and this hedgerow,

which cuts off the view of so much of the last horizon.

But sitting here

and gazing.

I can see beyond, in my mind's eye, unending spaces,

and superhuman silences,

and depthless calm,

till what I feel is almost fear.

And when I hear the wind stir in these branches,

I begin comparing that endless stillness with this noise:

and the eternal comes to mind,

and the dead seasons,

and the present living one,

and how it sounds.

So my mind sinks in this immensity:

and foundering is sweet in such a sea.

Since the evolution and the habits

and the events and the places of this my life

are still infantile,

I grasp onto these last scraps with both hands

and these shadows of that adored and blessed time

where I hoped and dreamed happiness.

And hoping and dreaming, I delighted in it.

It is past, nor will it return.

Of course, never again.

Seeing with excessive terror that with childhood

the world and life also ended for me

and for all who think and feel.

Therefore, there is no living until death

except for the many who remain children all their lives.

ten years later

- What time is it '? - It's past midday.

I went out to get you some pastries.

I'd give my eyes for you, if they were still worth anything.

How are you '?

I managed to write,

laboriously...

"m?

You'll spoil me I

Have you unhooked the sky '?

Come in, Lenina is always happy to see you.

- Congratulations. - It's an honor, coming from you.

"... the heavens reserve a cruel joy to she who is wife to a Frenchman".

"Or a cruel regret" '?

Marvelous verses I

You were sublime, as always.

Florence is at your feet, did you hear the applause '?

The script is good, it's moving, but the part is secondary.

You were sublime even in silences.

Who knows why soliloquies are so loved in theater I

Man, when taken with his passions, says nothing within himself.

- Sirs... - Niccolini... Wonderful!

My compliments.

Thank you, Maddalena.

You alone could play Imelda with such exquisite intensity.

It's your verses that are compelling.

What does the audience say '? What will happen to the performance '?

The audience loved it, but censorship prevents us from continuing.

That's terrible, I'm distressed for you.

We're all distressed, not just for you.

I too am in exile due to the hatred of tyrants

like the lead character of your tragedy.

- I received the news. - I'm sorry, Ferdinando.

You were extremely generous to organize the staging,

you and your wife,

now all we can do is close the theater.

Allow me to say how much I liked your interpretation.

Thank you, Mr. Ranieri.

Alright, we'll be going.

- Farewell I - Farewell.

I'm going as well.

Prepare everything, Madame, we leave tomorrow, on tour.

Bologna I

- Go away! - Be careful, Giacomo!

Get away, damned dog I

Let go!

Look!

She said

she'd leave her husband...

her children I

That she couldn't live without me.

I race to her

and it's not true at all I

I know well what melancholy is,

but you must make every effort to repel this feeling.

You're young, you have a long future before you,

don't embitter yourself with sad ideas.

Perhaps these words displease you.

No.

On the contrary,

your words and your voice are a balm to me.

You're fortunate in having the friendship of Leopardi.

He incites me to speak to you with my heart.

Have you seen that beautiful young girl

of about fourteen or fifteen '?

She looks made to be contemplated.

No.

Is she the daughter of one of the guests '?

I'd have sworn her to be Canova's daughter, but her father is another.

Come with me I

Look!

This Psyche is not a statue,

she is alive, alive I

One of the most tender, graceful little angels there are.

She loved with closed eyes, not seeing who her beloved was.

There's no tale more beautiful than Love and Psyche.

Oh, beautiful and miraculous Psyche I

This is a map I drew with Rosellini

after our journey, actually, during the journey.

We pushed on quite far, along the Nile...

I read your "Small Moral Works".

A wistful book, as is your way.

Yes, as is my way.

Wistful, disconsolate, despairing...

this life must seem a horrible thing to you.

What can I say '?

The madness that human life is bleak, was my mania.

Because now you hold a different opinion '?

Most certainly...

With more profound studying,

I realize that happiness of life

is one of the great discoveries of our century.

Would you excuse me '?

Giacomo, I finally see you I

I was grieved by what you wrote me.

I believe your competitor for the annual award is Botta,

not Manzoni, who's not in the running.

Do you really believe the Academy intends to violate the rules '?

I can try to inquire, but...

No, good heavens! Manzoni has nothing to do with it,

he is such a dear man, a lovely soul, worthy of his reputation.

It is merely a suspicion, my dear Vieusseux,

but no word of this to anyone, I pray.

Please excuse me.

Giacomino, what's the matter'?

Aren't you well '? Would you like some water '?

No, I'm fine.

Where is Ranieri '?

He's with Fanny.

Your designs worked well, my dear Leporello!

He'll finally forget that unbearable actress.

Why don't we leave '?

Should we call a carriage '?

Why not walk, I need some air.

- Can you manage '? - Yes.

How I adored your first poems, reading them again!

And these last as well.

How marvelous is "Night Song of a Wandering Shepherd of Asia"...

"What are you doing, moon up, in the sky;

What are you doing, tell me, silent moon '?"

Giordani my friend, it is so good to have you back!

Florence is mournful without you.

I have no need of esteem or glory or other such things,

I have need of love,

of enthusiasm, of fire, of life.

Then listen well to me, know that I love you,

sincerely, with all my heart,

and I'm pleased you find diversion occasionally, like this evening,

despite the bitter outcome of the evening.

What, you deride me was well '?

No!

Remember instead to deliver that famous article to Vieusseux.

What annoyance I

You asked to write it.

Very well, I'll write it tomorrow and deliver it to him,

if, however, you come with me

to chat with our academic friends.

"None else but genius is fury,

from study, the only inspiration".

Well said.

I heard the government prevented the printing of The Florentine Spectator,

a nice name for a newspaper.

It was Ranieri's idea.

I'd have preferred... Le Flaneur.

With all the newspapers so useful to progress,

ours wouldn't have been at all.

What do you mean '?

Our aim was not to increase industry or benefit the world,

just amuse the one who read it, to laugh.

Please forgive me if I seize this occasion,

you know all the most famous men of our times.

Would you lighten yourself of a few letters from illustrious persons '?

Yes... Of course I

- For Count Leopardi... - Yes.

İt would be in behalf of a gracious and beautiful lady

who implores me to procure autographs for her collection.

III

Here's your suit I It's like new.

See what long lapels.

Just as fashion commands I

- What do I owe you '? - Two francesconi.

The warbling of your songbird sounds like a laugh.

Birds are the happiest creatures in the world,

they seem to laugh, as men do.

Isn't it admirable that man is able to laugh, being so unhappy '?

Fortunately, men can forget themselves sometimes.

Rosina, wrap this suit for this gentleman.

- Good day, Fanny. - Good day, my friend.

I was just reading the book you recommended.

Come, sit here.

How are you today '? You look well.

Yin...

It must be this nice, mild weather.

Look what I've brought for you.

This is an autograph of Alfieri!

How did you come by it '?

I requested it for you.

It comes from Switzerland.

It's of great value! I don't know how to thank you.

I should thank you... for talking with Antonio,

you did very well.

- Have you seen him since that night '? - No.

But we all will meet again on Saturday at Charlotte Bonaparte's.

I know she overturned Florence to have you as her guest.

Maybe... I'll come.

Why shouldn't you '?

Because my life has always been,

and will perpetually be, a solitary one.

Besides in conversation I am...

"absent", to use the English word,

more than a man who is blind or deaf.

It is an incorrigible, desperate vice.

You're simply little willing to talk.

But no one says more interesting things than you.

Thank you!

When a loving feeling is newborn deep within the heart,

at the same time a languid and exhausted

wish to die arrives,

I don't know why;

but this is the first effect of true and potent love.

Maybe this desert terrifies the eyes then...

This '?

Desert.

Don't you want to give me a kiss?

One kiss in an entire life?

You can't deny a dying man's last favor.

I didn't live in vain...

I was allowed lo put my mouth on yours.

Indeed, I think my fate is happy.

There are two fair things in this world:

love and death.

Good morning, My Lord Count.

- Is the lady at home '? - She just left with the family.

Good bye.

You know how I've exerted myself for him.

We were able to obtain an allowance for him for a full year!

I've read his work again

and liked nothing of it.

The same, eternal,

unbearable melancholy.

The same themes,

no new idea, no new concept.

Of course, the style is beautiful I

- But, really... - He's coming.

My good friend,

we have nothing very consoling to say

regarding the award.

It was granted to Botta.

Your "Small Moral Works" was defended

by Capponi and by Niccolini.

You should know, although Colletta did not expect it,

even Zanoni was fair in your regard.

But what hope from all the priests who made the rest of the council '?

Could they ever appreciate

the value of your writings '?

Priests I

Priests are the cause of every evil I

They should all be chased out with stones.

At least from the literary juries.

Leave priests alone,

the matter is another, it regards us and our liberal ideas.

Giacomo, I speak to you in friendship,

in these times it is extremely detrimental

to display a desperation such as yours.

Our century has taught us that the human condition

can greatly improve from what it is,

just as it has already unspeakably improved from what it was.

That's correct...

My friends, forget it.

My book... burn it, it's for the best.

Or if not, save it as a book of poetic dreams,

of inventions, of mournful whims,

as the expression of the unhappiness of its author.

Because, in confidence,

my dear friend,

I believe you and all the others to be happy,

but as for me, by your leave and by that of the century,

I am extremely unhappy

and believe myself as such.

And all the papers of the two worlds

will never persuade me of the contrary.

What arrogant mediocrity I

Come on, Tommaseo, Leopardi is not what we believed,

but you exaggerate.

You say '?

In 1900 not even his hump will remain!

My dear mother, I never write you

and I regret having to do so now for a plea.

Time ago I wrote father

to beg him to grant me a monthly sum of twelve francesconi,

with which I would stingily manage to eke along.

Father replied I should write to you directly.

Today finally, able to defer no longer,

I am reduced to this step, which costs me dearly,

and I address you with the same plea.

Who are you?

I'm a poor Icelander

and am fleeing Nature.

I am she from whom you're fleeing-

Nature?

I am smitten with anguish I

You are the manifest enemy of men,

and of the other animals and your own creatures.

Now you ensnare us, now you threaten us,

now you attack us, now you strike us, now you rend us,

and you always offend or persecute us!

Did you think by any chance that the world was made for you alone 7?

My purpose was not, and is not,

the happiness or unhappiness of men.

When I harm you in any way, and with whatever means, I don't notice it;

I don't know whether I please or help you.

Even if I happened to wipe out your entire species,

I wouldn't notice it.

my songbird flits here and there totin' my word

and comes back with what it can bring.

Listen here, lovely bird,

right there facin',

is a house, and a girl is within,

you can go to her now if you hasten,

she's the fairest a girl's ever been...

LISP-

I agree too.

LISP-

You've decided I

Good.

But maybe we can't go at the moment.

I'm having ferocious arguments.

They say they welcomed me in Tuscany like a brother,

that it doesn't matter if my exile has been revoked,

that the political situation here is difficult, understand '?

And now that I can go to Naples,

where you and I could live in comfort, without a cent,

what do these scoundrels do '?

They accuse me of cowardice.

Your political friends...

who talk so much about the happiness of the masses.

My tiny brain can't conceive

of happy masses composed of unhappy individuals.

Do you really want us to go to Naples '?

I desire nothing more than to do like the Orientals,

who are satisfied to sit all day on their legs

stupidly watching our ridiculous existence.

Naples will do you good, the air is wonderful.

I'm sure it will help withstand your pains better.

I am sure it will be like that.

I came to say goodbye.

And Giacomo '?

He wasn't able to come.

He didn't want to come.

I've fallen in disfavor with Leopardi.

- That is not so. - Yes, it is!

If you knew how often it happens with my string of adorers.

But you know well, I gave not the least flattery to that poor man.

No one is more dear to me than him, you know.

I appreciate and highly value

your friendship with the excellent Leopardi,

but I believe he will be a hindrance to you,

his health and style of living

contrast too greatly with your strength and youth.

That is enough I

Yin...

Enough.

I don't wish you to think me cruel.

It is my true, sincere sentiment for you that makes me talk like this.

Write to me when you are in Naples.

I will not forget you.

Farewell.

Your father '?

He has no intention of sending me money,

he insists on giving it to me in Naples, in person,

so as to humiliate me to my face.

In the meantime, I will try signing another promissory note.

We will together,

I'll ask my father to guarantee.

Furthermore, here in Rome I am again a subject of the Pope,

as I was in Recanati.

It is fair I should humiliate myself as well.

Can you make the stairs '?

I'll try...

Wait I

Come here.

I could not live without you I

By now we are a single thing.

- So, where are these sheep '? - They stayed there!

How are you '2 We've not seen you in Rome for a long time.

Fill. II...

My uncle, the Marquise, is not in '?

He left early this morning for the Holy See,

extremely important obligations.

He ask me to extend his apologizes for the delay.

He shall return as quickly as possible.

- May I take your overcoat '? - No, I'm fine, thank you.

What should I do, sit'?

Naturally, please take a seat I

- I'll inform the Marohioness. - No, no... don't trouble yourself!

We exchanged greetings this morning at Mass.

The Marchioness partook of Mass in the private chapel.

Then, at the cafe.

Of course... with your permission.

Count, may I '? Here also to await the Marquise is Baron De Corbis,

a High Council magistrate.

What an honor I

But especially what a pleasure to pass the waiting

in your company, sir.

Giacomo Leopardi.

Count, pray forgive the disturbance,

this man must deliver a crate of wine to the Marquise.

"Be silent sweet Muse if thou intend

to recount the illustrious virtues of my lord,

about whose sweet graces and industrious ways

you spend in vain your graceful thoughts.

Promptly the goats and the young lambs, to live

run quickly as lightning bolts,

to which Father Tiber awakens at the sound.

And with head raised to the most sublime acme,

aimed so cruelly the fearful lambs,

that Zeus resembled as he, it is lightning"...

To receive payment for being heard, that would be a good affair,

since by now everyone writes I

The first hour, one scudo, the second two, the third four,

the fourth eight and so on.

And double for poetry, double I

And for each passage read, desiring to return to it,

one lira per verse.

And, heaven forbid, if the listener should fall asleep,

he should restore to the reader a third of the established price.

How sarcastic you are I

Monsignor Cupis has always had words of affection for you,

he showers a thousand kindnesses on you,

what harm is there in listening to his verses '?

He threatens with thousands: sonnets, lyric poems and chapters

which he would like me to revise or polish.

Marianna, he has else to do besides listening to Monsignor's verses.

He has to flee the police.

Is it true that you were planning a revolt in Naples '?

No.

But it was in a newspaper, your father nearly had a fit I

It was a French newspaper

and the Leopardi they mention was a certain Pier Silverio, not me.

In l” I...

Associating with this Ranieri does not benefit your reputation.

Are you certain you want to move to Naples '?

It is a city dominated by nature

and I shall finally be able to live as it comes.

I ask for nothing more.

You ask money of your parents, however.

You shall receive their check through a promissory note in my name.

Be advised that Monaldo, without a word to your mother,

has included a sum of twenty scudi for travel expenses.

I am deeply grateful,

to them and to you, who inconvenience yourself for me.

Indeed, if you would do me the courtesy of writing my father

and reassuring him,

also on my condition of health.

As you see, my body is so frail it is unable

to develop a strong disease that could kill it.

And so, I am living.

I will, but you could write him more,

with more affection, with more...

I would give all my blood for him

and not out of duty, but love.

Giacomo, won't you eat something '?

At this hour...

You know I have quite a complicated digestion.

We know... Remove his plate.

Don't ya see he's right here?

You gotta go, hear me '2 I'll grab your hair and drag ya I!

Stop I

What is it '?

What happened '?

The landlady was rummaging through my things.

- What '? - I saw her.

Relax, it was a dream.

Why is the case open '? Bring it here.

Perhaps we left it like that last night.

Bring it here.

Bring it here.

Is anything missing '?

Huh'?No!

Who would want to steal your utensils for hair '?

- It could have been for money. - What are you saying!

She's a very honest woman, Margaris introduced us.

You know how I trust that old Greek I

I've known him for years,

do you believe he would put us in the hands of a thief '?

That toad's consumptive,

he'll end up infectin' the lot of us.

No, you can rest assured, he has no infectious disease.

Besides, pardon me: the candles never out, the whole night,

I'd love to know what's goin' on in there!

Daytime we can't go in 'cause toady's asleep,

the maids can't even do the cleanin'.

Why not take him home with ya '?

We can't go to my house, besides we've only just arrived,

I can't exhaust my friend with a new move.

Madame, I would never have brought a person less than distinguished.

The Count is a poet

and writes at night.

I don't care if he's a poet, a Count or a Marquise!

- That man's ill, I want no trouble. - What trouble '?

Do you have faith in Dr. Nicola Mannella,

physician to His Royal Highness, the old Prince of Salerno '?

Why, you know the court physician '?

Well, when Dr. Mannella has given his word of honor

that he's not consumptive, we'll talk about it.

What do you usually eat'?

Meat.

- Vegetables '? - No.

Wynn

In your condition, you should eat

principally fish and vegetables.

But, let me remind you,

you must absolutely avoid sweets.

Sweets and ice cream.

And don't live in the dark, you need air, sun!

Paolina, open the blinds, please.

- Who's that one '? - His sister.

Toady's even got a sister I

She's Ranieri's sister.

- My respects. - Regards.

Thank you doctor.

Madame, whatever the nature of his disease,

it is not contagious.

- Good bye. - Good bye, thank you!

May God forever protect His Highness!

So, is it alright '?

M. wilt...

those two aren't tellin' it straight.

Madame, please,

your generosity is renown throughout Naples.

One month.

And not a day more!

Now boast, because you can.

Announce that you're the one of all your sex

who made me bend my proud head,

the one to whom I freely gave my unvanquished heart.

Say you were the first,

and certainly the last, I hope,

to see me bow to you,

to see me timid,

trembling

(telling it I am burning in embarrassment and shame),

undone.

And comfort and revenge

is that I can lie here lazy, lifeless on the grass,

watching the sea and earth and sky,

and smile.

Paolina, you're here I Where's Giacomo '?

I don't know, they said he went out this morning.

I've been awaiting him for two hours,

he asked if he could dictate a letter to his sister.

You're an angel.

But return home now, it will soon be dark.

I'll go look for him.

Damnation, he'll make me crazy I

In Recanati I knew a champion!

Carlo Didimi, maybe you know him.

Sure do I A great player!

He even played for Naples, remember, Salvatore '?

Yeah! But how do you know that '?

Recanati is a very small place,

I even dedicated a poem to him.

Let's drink to the game I

Didn't you play?

I was intent on other things

and I was a bit delicate.

Not that I have always been "toady" as you deride me here!

A toad, sure, but useful:

with that hump, you can give us numbers.

Yeah, we'll play 'em in the lottery I

Numbers! Because I bring good luck...

Twenty-four I

Thirty-one I

Forty-nine I

Ninety-four I

There's no ninety-four, the lottery goes to ninety.

Don Giacomo, ninety: fear I

And the one who gets it, makes ninety-one!

What are you doing '?

I looked everywhere for you, then they said you were here.

How are you '?

I'm fine... I'm fine.

C'mon, let's go.

Stay here a little longer, drink with us.

Just a drop!

Sit here with friends.

- Here's to health. - To health.

I've seen marvelous shops, Antonio,

richly-stocked bookshops...

and pastry shops... what a smell!

I want to write the tale of a walk.

Maybe we'll even buy some new ties, yours are threadbare.

Lady Guacci has invited us to her home next Saturday,

even Donizetti will be there,

he wants to use several of your verses in his new opera,

"Lucia di Lammermoor".

I don't want to go to social gatherings.

We'd best be moving.

What's happening '?

- The police have come to take the sailor. - What sailor '?

The one who fled the ship infected with cholera, to see his family.

He's dead.

Let's go I

Your lovelies, your lovelies...

I want to praise!

No, women no!

My head, farewell! My head, farewell I!

I can't restrain,

my fury swells!

My very hand

will rip apart...

In Rome,

the opera was a flop.

There's no doubt, Rossini draws inspiration in Naples.

The first act was wonderful I

My ice cream.

You're in a good mood today,

maybe a less afflicted inspiration for poetry will come.

Look, I have your book here,

Starita, the publisher gave it to me this morning

and said there were unpublished poems, I read them immediately.

Well, don Giacomo I

Allow me to speak sincerely, they are truly woeful,

not from the poetic standpoint,

but especially from the moral one.

- Is it true you are an atheist '? - Would it were atheism!

If you imagine a divinity

you imagine it as evil, who enjoys tormenting men.

You are quite the pessimist.

What empty words I

Pessimism, optimism...

You must prove,

that this world is not the worst of all possible.

I certainly don't affirm that.

Who knows the limits of possibility '?

You must imagine it like the thought

of an ancient Indian philosopher.

In any case, your little poems

were received poorly by everyone.

No, I say this with great regret,

because we had hoped in you, your fame was great,

we expected a new Manzoni.

Don't you see the suffering borne by don Giacomo '?

How can he not be woeful '?

Thus he is irritated with nature and men.

What of the example of Christ '? Or Socrates '?

Also that of Silvio Pellico.

My opinions have nothing to do

with my personal suffering I

Grant me the grace of not attributing to my state

what is owed only to my intellect I

And if this impassions you,

devote yourselves to demolishing my reasoning,

rather than accusing my illnesses.

If you will excuse me '?

Good bye.

Count...

Would you do me a favor,

if you encounter that lousy Starita,

remind him that he is overdue

by more than ten days with the payment he owes me.

It shall be done, good bye.

Good bye.

Sit down a moment.

Thank you, dear Margaris, my good Greek father.

Will you stop that '? If they get broken, I can't cook!

Giacomo I

Look at this table.

We put our manger scenes on it when I was a boy.

Did you see the mattresses '? Real Tunisian wool!

They're very soft, Mother treasured them.

I had them brought here to alleviate the pain in your back.

Thank you!

Have you put Giacomo's papers in a safe place '?

- Certainly, they're in the chest. - Begin copying them.

We mustn't leave even one out.

"This lonely hill was always dear to me"...

And with all these Fannys, Tereses, Tereselles, Gertrudis...

can it be this friend of yours

has never had a screwin' '?

I told you, he's a virgin.

Alright...

Have him come here, we'll take care of him.

Yes, but you have to treat him well

and tell the others too.

He's ill, very ill.

And you mustn't tease him about his hump, remember.

Don't worry, we know toady,

all the times we've seen him go by I

Haunt

And you have to say to him: "s'agapo".

- Sagapo; " - Sagapo

It's Greek.

It's late.

Take care.

May the Holy Virgin be with you I

- My Lord Count, Mr. Ranieri! - Good evening.

Pray, refresh and console, lovely souls, holy souls,

I am alone, there are many of you...

Dear little head.

It's down there.

Antonio I don't know if...

Don't worry, they know everything.

Go there and choose the one you like most.

Go!

I'll wait for you around here.

Look where the hunchbacks goin'!

Come right in I

Come here, sit down I

Don't go in there I

Come here I Where are you going '?

Come here.

"Sagapo" I

I, dear sister, die of melancholy

when I think of all the lime passed without seeing you.

These are things one says in jest

and I, laughing, say them to you.

When you see me again,

there will be no lack of tales and stories

to keep you cheerful

for many weeks, in the evenings.

Farewell.

Farewell...

signed.

Et cetera.

Would you like to return to Recanati '?

YD.

I would like

to flee these scoundrels

and Pulcinellas.

Nobles and populace, eh '?

All thieves and fucking barons,

quite worthy of the Spanish and the gallows.

Certainly,

your sister would be so happy to see you again...

But couldn't she come here '?

Poor Paolina,

she never married

and she never went out of Recanati.

We would play, as children.

I was overbearing

and Carlo would become angry,

but she was always on my side.

How strange, to leave a sister Paolina

in my little backward, native village

and find another sister Paolina, in this great city of Naples.

Why are you always here '?

Don't you tire of tending to an invalid,

who's also often in a bad mood '?

When I hear you talk to my brother

about philosophy, literature,

all those nice, important things,

I am repaid for my effort.

And when Antonio didn't want to return to Naples, to be with you,

I swore if he brought you here,

I'd have helped him tend to you my entire life.

You love him that much '?

Yes, that much.

MM I

C'mon we can make it I

Peppi, we're almost there!

Those with any dead, bring 'em out I

The dead I

Throw the dead out!

May death take you I Go away I

Those with any dead, bring 'em out I

You wait in vain, they're all dead I

Race is lost I

See '? No more kingdoms, or empires I

There will be no more war and the years will all seem the same,

you see, like from egg to egg.

And we won't know what day of the month it is,

because they won't print any more almanacs, calendars, moon almanacs.

The moon will certainly not lose her way because of that!

And so, we'll all pass off as young people

and when we're really old,

we won't be waiting for death from one moment to the next I

Take care I

What do you want '?

The Count is waiting for me.

Wait out here.

The doctor says to rest, do you think you should receive visitors '?

Antonio I'll see whom I like,

don't interfere in my affairs, I've said that many times before.

Do as you like.

Come in.

Disinfect your hands.

Are you writing the story of mice making war on frogs '?

Yes... and with crabs I

But do you know who wins '?

The king of mice, Ham-Eater, remember '?

He died.

Now the new Prime Minister, Count Bottom-Licker,

is forced into exile and turns to the world of the dead

for advice, to the Underworld of mice.

What do the dead tell him '?

They have a big laugh I

When the scourge was not even manifest,

I told you it was wrath from heaven

and I thus invited you to repent,

inciting you to take refuge in prayer,

mercy, the only shelter, the only solution for hope.

Ave, Ave!

Holy Virgin, take me in your arms I

Holy Virgin, grant me grace I

Antonio, it's useless, he refuses to change.

Don Antonio, I don't know what saint to pray to.

In your condition, you cannot

wear the same clothing for days.

You must be washed.

I'm unable to, there's too much pain.

Let's leave here.

Our friend Ferrigni has left us his villa, it's beautiful.

You heard the doctors: no onion juice, no diuretic

can equal a half a day of air in Torre del Greco.

I couldn't withstand another move.

We've changed homes too many times.

And besides Torre... nothing can be done, Torre!

My illness is nerves I

You heard the doctor with you own ears.

"My Lord Count, the doctor makes the diagnosis, not the patient!"

He's told you over and over, it's not a question of nerves I

"You, sir, must go to Torre" that's what he said.

"İf you want, if not, do as you see fit".

I'll come down with cholera, if I go out.

Perhaps.

But Mannella was clear,

between the fear of cholera if you leave

and hydrothorax if you stay, the first is in doubt,

the second, a certainty.

Don Giacomo, good morning.

- What time is it '? - It's three.

You said you wanted to eat at four

and I thought it was best to wake up a little earlier.

Thank you, Pasquale.

Good thing he chose only foods that are right for his health.

Right, that means he wants to live.

I sent him to Naples for bread and taralli.

That was unwise! If he'd become infected '?

Holy Virgin I

It's useless, he doesn't like the bread from here

and he ate the little taralli one after the other.

- He said he also wants ice cream. - That too!

Fanny wrote me, she says hello.

She sends greetings from Giordani as well.

Certainly, that woman often says things that...

She says people are dying in Naples because of the poverty!

That's what they think of us in Florence,

they see us as uncivilized.

As if in London or Paris there were no poor.

The envy of outsiders is only equal

to the idiocy of those who govern us, that's the truth.

"I see another cat, it seems the big dipper with the little.

Oh cats, lamp of my study...

oh beloved cats,

if God saves you from a thrashing,

if the heavens provide you with meat and milk,

give me light to write these solemn poems...

Here on the dry flank

of the terrifying mountain, Vesuvius the destroyer,

which no other tree or flower brightens,

you spread your solitary thickets,

scented broom, at home in the desert.

Let him who loves to praise our state come to these slopes.

Represented on these slopes you see

“the magnificent, progressive destiny" of humankind.

The noble nature is the one who dares lift his mortal eyes

to confront our common destiny

and, with honest words that subtract nothing from the truth,

admits the pain that is our destiny,

and believing the whole human company

considers all men allies from the outset

and embraces all of them with true love,

offering and expecting real and ready aid

in the alternating dangers and concerns

of our common struggle.

Often I sit at night on these deserted slopes,

which the hardened flood clothes in a black that seems to undulate,

and over the sad plain

I see the stars burning up above in purest blue,

which the sea reflects in the far distance

and, twinkling everywhere,

the world glistens in the empty sky.

And once my eyes have focused on those lights,

which seem a tiny point to them, though they're enormous,

so that next to these

the earth and sea are in truth no greater than a speck,

to which not only man but this globe where man is nothing

is totally unknown;

and when I see

these still more distant nuclei, it seems, of stars

that look like haze to us,

how do I think of you then,

sons of men?

Extinct Pompei returns to the celestial light

from her immemorial oblivion like a buried skeleton.

And in the horror of the hidden night, in the empty theaters,

the broken temples and mined houses,

where the bat conceals its offspring,

advancing cruelly through vacant buildings like an evil torch

the gleaming deadly lava flows,

and glows red among the distant shadows,

dyeing everything around.

And you, too, pliant broom,

adorning this abandoned countryside with fragrant brushes,

you will soon succumb

to the cruel power of subterranean fire,

and unresisting

you'll bow your blameless head under the deadly scythe...

subtitles Charlotte Lantery Ombre Elettriche Digital - Roma

Jonathan Galassi's translation of the Leopardi verses is in

“Canti I Poems, a bilingual edition“, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2011