Dialettisti

Dialettisti refers to writers who compose in regional dialects of Italian; the term covers poets, playwrights, and prose authors. In Italy, the practice flourished from the 19th century through the early 20th, alongside the rise of standard Italian as the national literary language. Dialect writing served to preserve local speech, folklore, and social realities; it also expressed regional identity in the face of centralization and the Risorgimento's push toward a unified language.

Dialect works are characterized by phonetic spelling that imitates pronunciation, vivid local color, and often emphasis on everyday life, labor, humor, or social critique. They range from lyric poetry to theatre to short prose; some authors published collections of dialect verse or staged plays in dialect; translations and adaptations from Italian to dialect also occurred.

Reception has varied: at times judged as artisanal or rustic, but later critics have highlighted linguistic value and cultural history as sources for regional literature and oral tradition. The dialect movement influenced later regionalist and anti-hegemonic currents, and some authors continued to experiment with dialects into the late 20th century.

Notable examples include Salvatore Di Giacomo, an exponent of Neapolitan dialect poetry and song; Nino Martoglio, a Sicilian playwright who helped popularize Sicilian dialect on stage; and Carlo Goldoni, who wrote for Venetian audiences early in his career in the Veneto dialect. See also dialect literature, Italian dialects, regionalism.