Giovannangelo Nicola Maltese (7 January 1852 – 21 August 1913) was a poet and sculptor from Forio, on the island of Ischia. Born to a farming family, he began his life as a farmer and began carving figurines in wood until his talents caught his countrymen’s notice and he was sent on scholarship to the Istituto di Belle Arti in Naples in 1870. After graduating he worked as a sculptor in Rome, and becoming well received, he obtained a commission to work on decorations in the castle of Chenonceaux in the Loire valley. He then moved to Paris where he came into contact with Impressionism and worked for a time on his charcoal sketches. He returned to his native island and executed several sculptures for Wagner’s wife. He tragically lost his only living relatives in the devastating 1883 earthquake, but nonetheless settled in Forio and married Fanny Jane Fairer, an English woman, in 1901. A declared adherent to verismo in both art and poetry, he began writing in his native dialect at age 40, taking island life as his inspiration. He was known for his wit and sarcasm, and was often in conflict with the prominent personalities and political figures he satirized and whose corruption he attacked. Maltese received the Torrione, a defensive tower built in 1480 by the town of Forio, in perpetual lease from mayor Orazio Patalano, which served as his home and studio, and which holds his works till the present day, as arranged at the behest of his widow.
The following are verses Maltese wrote for his wife.
From his work “Ncrocchie” (“Clusters” [of people])
I
Quanne sto nnènt’a ste capìgghie d’ore
- e ngè lu ventarié che ghie sceléie -,
cu lu nése pe ghièri’, ève cuppéie
nun sòcce mènghe dì che bèll’andòre!
E quanne ghiuócchie tuóie nda lu miéie
- còmm’a n’ape nfezzata nda nu fióre -
lu curunié se zuca de stu còre,
ncalametéte, allór, ‘un pepetéie.
Pu, si stu muss’a’ penimene de ròse,
alliér’ o mmenenét’o ndefferènte,
se vota mère me pe dì qua còse,
Tanne me sènghe mmócche le fragniénte
e – si nun fusse tènte pavuróse –
te mullarrì le vés’a ciént’a ciénte.
I
When I am before your golden hair
-and there is a little gust of wind that tussles it-,
with my nose in the air I go gathering
I don’t know even how to say what fragrance!
And when your eyes are fixed in mine
-like a bee set in a flower-
sips the chalice of my heart
magnetized, why, then I can’t utter a peep.
Then, if these rose petal lips,
merry, embittered or indifferent,
turn toward me to say something,
Then I feel in my mouth an excitement
And- if I were not so fearful-
I would launch kisses to you by the hundreds.
Translated by Cav. Charles Sant'Elia
Bibliographic information:
MALTESE, Giovannangelo, “Ncrocchie”, Tocco & Salvietti, Napoli, 1904
GARUFI Amedeo, "Medaglione isolano dello scultore Giovanni Maltese", in Centro di Ricerche su l'isola d'Ischia, Ricerche, contributi e memorie, edited by the Ente Valorizzazione Isola d'Ischia, Napoli, 1971
