Angelo Alfredo Bartoli (1872–1954), born in Le Piastre, was a largely self-taught Latinist, teacher, and translator, as well as one of the best-known Latin poets of the twentieth century. He studied classical literature at the University of Siena, but he left early due to his impatience with traditional language learning and thus never received an academic degree (Serracino 2018: 219). Bartoli nevertheless started publishing and teaching, first privately, and then at secondary schools at Grosseto (1893–1900) and Florence (1901–1906) (Morabito 1979: 302–303). Around 1907, he moved to Malta (then a British colony). There, Bartoli taught Latin and Italian literature at secondary schools before accepting the chair of Latin and Italian at the University of Malta (1914–1923) (on the dates, see Serracino 2018: 220n9, 227n45). He also founded a monthly journal there, Rosa Melitensis: De litteris et bonis artibus commentarius, entirely in Latin (19 issues between 1908 and 1910) (Serracino 2018: 125–129, 219–228; Laes 2022). Due to his overtly nationalist and irridentist leanings, he became a matter of concern for the British authorities and, at some point, was banned from delivering public lectures without having his texts reviewed (Serracino 2018: 226). This situation might have prompted his return to Italy in 1923/1924, yet the actual reason for his return remains shrouded in mystery (Laes 2022: 154). Back in Italy, he taught Italian, Latin, Greek, and art history at the Liceo Comunale of Gerace Marina (Locri). He was one of the guiding spirits of the Certamen Locrense, first organized in 1925 (Morabito 1979: 306–309). After a brief stay in Salerno (1928–1929), Bartoli moved to Florence, where he remained for the remainder of his life.

Bartoli is mainly known for his Latin poetry. He published his first collection of Latin poems, entitled Silvae, in 1899 and republished it in revised and expanded form some years later (Bartoli 1899; Bartoli 1904). Between 1900 and 1950, he won magna laus 15 times at the Certamen Hoeufftianum (Morabito 1979: 315). His poetic production is diverse and includes both smaller poems in various metres as well as more substantial compositions in hexameters on a range of subjects (Morabito 1979: 312–314). Fascist Italy was only one of his many topics (and not the most prominent one). In 1923, Bartoli dedicated two poems on the Unknown Soldier to Benito Mussolini (Bartoli 1923; De Sutter 2020: passim). He also wrote three prose pieces on Fascist Italy for the national Latin prose competition of the Istituto di Studi Romani. He published these short texts under the pseudonyms Adolfo Terralbi, Alberto Dolfari, and Florio Del Traba (Bartoli 1940; Bartoli 1941; Bartoli 1942, respectively). In addition to writing Latin prose and poetry, Bartoli rendered the work of the French dramatist Molière into Italian verse (Molière 1952). His autobiography remains unpublished (Di Stefano 2006).

Bibliography

Latin texts (selection)

Bartoli, Alfredo. 1899. Silvae. Pistoia: Tip. Giuseppe Flori.

———. 1904. Silvae. Pistoia: Casa Tip. Lit. Edit. Sinibuldiana G. Flori e C.

———. 1923. Ignotus Miles. Mater ignoti militis. Florence: Typ. Juntina.

———. 1940 (as Adolfo Terralbi). De agro Pontino. Acroasis (Premiato al concorso di prosa latina bandito dall’Istituto di Studi Romani). Florence: Stella.

———. 1941 (as Alberto Dolfari). Mare nostrum. Florence: Stella.

———. 1942 (as Florio Del Traba). Ver Sacrum. Epitaphium. Florence: Le Monnier.

Other work (selection)

Molière. 1952. Teatro. Traduzioni dal francese di Corrado Tumiati e Alfredo Bartoli; note storiche bibliografiche di E. Barbetti; introduzione di Ferdinando Neri. 2 vols. Florence: Sansoni.

Secondary sources

De Sutter, Nicholas. 2020. ‘Ignoto militi: The Italian “Milite Ignoto” and the Certamen Hoeufftianum’. In Litterae Recentissimae. Formen und Funktionen Neulateinischer Literatur vom 19. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart, edited by Stefan Weise, 103–28. Innsbruck: Innsbruck University Press.

Di Stefano, Anita. 2006. ‘Un inedito libro autobiografico di Alfredo Bartoli’. In La poesia latina nell’area dello stretto fra Ottocento e Novecento: Atti del Convegno di Messina, 20-21 ottobre 2000, nel centenario della nascita di Giuseppe Morabito (1900-1997), edited by Vincenzo Fera, Daniela Gionta, and Elena Morabito, 293–310. Percorsi dei classici 7. Messina: Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi Umanistici.

Laes, Christian. 2021. ‘A Poor and Proud Schoolteacher: Alfredo Bartoli’s Primus Horatii Magister (1937)’. In Dulces Ante Omnia Musae. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Honour of Dirk Sacré, edited by Jeanine De Landtsheer, Fabio Della Schiava, and Toon Van Houdt, 133–46. Turnhout: Brepols.

Laes, Christian. 2022. ‘Rosa Melitensis (1908-1910): A Latin Journal and the Maltese Episode in the Life of Alfredo Bartoli (1872-1954)’. In Ardet Amans: Essays in Honour of Horatio Caesar Roger Vella, edited by Carmel Serracino, 149–65. Santa Venera: Midsea Books.

Morabito, Giuseppe. 1979. ‘Il latinista Alfredo Bartoli’. Humanistica Lovaniensia 28: 302–27.

Serracino, Carmel. 2018. ‘The Gateway to Honour: A History of Classics at the University of Malta  from 1800 to 1979’. PhD Thesis. Msida: University of Malta.

Han Lamers