Piero Bigongiari (1914-1997) was among the most prolific and consistent Italian poets of the last century. He was central to the "third generation" of ermetismo - the movement that voiced the mysterious, the hidden and the abstract. Bigongiari was a poet of origins, exploring the grounding of cultures in landscape and myth, the depths and limitations of home, and the symbols and narratives that sustain an individual"s bond to places. His poetic technique was based on the elaboration of motifs, tracing evolving ideas in a web of verbal themes and variations. Bigongiari"s was a voice of memory, dreams and the surprises of the psyche, speaking beyond politics or ideology to express an Italian sense of existing in modern times. Yet his work is unfamiliar to most Italians and English-language readers. This book - the first English in-depth study of the poet - addresses the roots of Bigongiari"s writing and moral ideas, which took form during the Second World War. After the fall of fascism...