Edoardo Cacciatore: The Poet Who Defied Moravia and Ungaretti

Edoardo Cacciatore (Palermo, 1912 – Rome, 1996) was a reclusive Sicilian-born poet who spent most of his life in Rome. His first poems appeared in the 1950s in the journal Botteghe Oscure, edited by Giorgio Bassani and supported by Marguerite Caetani. Elena Croce reviewed them favorably in Lo Spettatore in 1954. Cacciatore favored closed, rigorous poetic forms but rejected Italian classical models for a more international style akin to T.S. Eliot. He wrote philosophical essays such as L'Identificazione intera (1951) before turning to poetry. His complex, elaborate writing was at odds with official literary culture. Alfredo Giuliani described his verse as having syncopated, dissonant rhythms and a metallic ring. Many poems focus on Rome, including "Nella luna di luglio," "Campo dei Fiori," and "Uno a Regina Coeli." Cacciatore faced harsh criticism: after the essay L'Identificazione intera, Alberto Moravia shouted at him, "Who do you think you are, Spinoza?" and Giuseppe Ungaretti compared his rhymes to the verses of the Barbanera almanac. Shortly before his death, Einaudi proposed publishing a collection, Il discorso a meraviglia, which came out in 1996, just after his death. The article is part of a series on forgotten artists.