Sergio Corazzini: The Forgotten Roman Poet Who Died at 21

Sergio Corazzini (1886-1907), a Roman poet associated with the Crepuscolari movement alongside Guido Gozzano and Corrado Govoni, died at 21 from tuberculosis. Born into a bourgeois family, his father Enrico worked for the Dataria Pontificia. After financial ruin in 1898, Corazzini left school to work at the insurance company La Prussiana. He spent his free time at Caffè Sartoris near his father's tobacco shop on Via del Corso, where he met writers Gino Calza-Bini, Giulio Cesare Santini, Tito Marrone, Antonello Caprino, and Govoni. Influenced by Giovanni Pascoli, Gabriele d'Annunzio, Jules Laforgue, and Maurice Maeterlinck, he published his first poem in Romanesco, 'Na bella idea', in the magazine Pasquino de Roma in 1902, followed by 'Partenza' in Rugantino. His collection 'L'amaro calice' appeared in 1904, the same year his only play, 'Il traguardo', debuted at Teatro Metastasio without success. He traveled to Nocera Umbra for his health and fell platonically in love with a Danish girl named Tania. Hospitalized at the sanatorio di Nettuno, he corresponded with Aldo Palazzeschi after reviewing Palazzeschi's 'I cavalli bianchi' in 1905. His last letter to Palazzeschi in winter 1906 was heartbreaking. Key collections include the anthology edited by Stefano Jacomuzzi (Einaudi, 1968) and 'Poesie' edited by Idolina Landolfi (Bur, Milan 1992).