As is the case for the majority of Italian regions, Emilia-Romagna has a long-standing literary tradition in dialect, with such key writers as the Bolognese playwrights Giulio Cesare Cortese and Alfredo Testoni, and the Romagnol poet Aldo Spallicci. A younger generation of poets, represented by Raffaele Baldini, Nino Pedretti, and Tonino Guerra, has perpetuated and rejuvenated this rich tradition, which parallels the region's wellknown literary production in standard Italian. By choosing to write in dialect, the authors opt for a language of social reality or for a medium of personal and intimate expression.

Antonio (later Tonino) Guerra was born in the small town of Sant'Arcangelo di Romagna, near Ravenna, on 16 March 1920. He went to school there and later taught classes there while studying education at the University of Urbino, from which he graduated with a laurea (degree) in 1946. Two years earlier he had experienced one of the most...