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| Vittorio Butera by Umberto Stranges |
Vittorio Maria Butera was born in Conflenti (prov. of Catanzaro) on the slopes of the Reventino hill on 23 December 1877 to Tommaso Butera and Teresa de Carusi, members of the landowning class which formed in the late 18th and early 19th century during the growth of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His mother having died six months after his birth, he was raised by his grandmother Peppina, who, along with his elementary school teacher Emanuele de Carusi, are said to have contributed to his interest in fables and poetry. An only child, his father planned to have him assume the governance of his family’s profitable lands, but a paternal uncle who was the director of the naval hospital in Portovenere (prov. of La Spezia) took him under his tutelage. After completing his basic schooling in his native town at age 13, he pursued studies in various cities, including Catanzaro, La Spezia, Messina, and ultimately Naples, where he took a degree in engineering in 1905. After working in Rome, Palermo, and Crotone, he settled in Catanzaro and became an engineer in the provincial government in 1909. In Catanzaro, he met and married his beloved wife Bianca Vitale and died there on 25 March 1955, having gained many admirers of his poetry.In 1949, Butera had retired and, urged by many friends, he decided to publish his poetry collection Prima cantu e doppu cuntu. Posthumously, his other collections were published as Tuornu e ccantu, tuornu e ccuntu in 1960 and then in 1978, Inedite. His work has subsequently been revisited by scholars over the years and republished in various anthologies.Butera’s work is largely in the fable narrative tradition and often features talking animals and local Calabrian settings, all written in his native eastern Calabrian dialect. Butera has been likened to the Lucanian Albino Pierro for the command of his native speech, which he was able to develop and deploy as a literary language, rooted in both Calabrian poetry and national poetry. Butera’s wife noted that he avoided politics and focused on the timeless themes of morality, truth, courage, justice, and sturdy rural resolve. ‘U Piecuraru e Ri Cani
‘E piecure mirìjanu a ‘nna manca,
E dde dduve me trùovu a re gguardare
Paru ‘nna cista de vucata janca,
Amprata supra l’erva ad asciucare.
Vicinu a ‘nna funtana
Chi cantadi a ‘nnu friscu,
‘Nu vìecchiu piecuraru, zu Franciscu,
Ccu ‘nn’ugna ‘e calaturu,
Chianu chianu se sgrana
‘Nu mienzu pane scuru.
Putenza de l’adduru!
Cumu si ‘nu viscune canusciutu
L‘avèradi chiamati, a ‘nnu minutu,
I cani d’ ‘o cuntuornu
Li se pàranu ‘ntuornu
Ed ogned’unu aspetta
Si ‘n’urra li nne jetta.
Iu me ricriju a re gguardare. Paru
‘Nna murra ‘e Vancilistri
Avanti de ‘n’ataru.
‘Nu canicìellu russu,
Quattru passi distante,
Se fa ogne ttantu ‘na liccata ‘e mussu
E nnùcedi mmacante.
‘Na cagnola vicina
S’è ‘nculacchiata ‘n terra;
‘A cuda le rimina
E nnittija ra terra
Cumu ‘na scuppittina.
‘Nu crozzu ‘e pilu scuru
Annasca ed ogne ttantu
Cce jetta ‘nnu languru’
Chi pare ppropriu chjantu.
Ma Ciccu, chi ‘u’ sse sturde
Dde panze musce o vurde,
Mancia e, ogne ttantu, fa
Ccu mmala grazia: zàa!
I cani, amminazzati,
Se vòtanu, se giranu,
Cumu tanti stunati;
Ma nullu si nne va:
Ancòre cc’è spiranza
De se vurdare ‘a panza.
Ma quannu, sazziatu,
Ciccu, a ru tascappane
Se stipa ll’urra ‘e pane
Chi ancòre l’è rristatu,
I cani tutti quanti
Le pèrenu d’avanti.
Finuta è ra speranza
De se vurdare ‘a panza!
The Shepherd and the Dogs
The sheep are taking noon rest in the shade,
And from where I’m watching them,
They look like a basket of white laundry
Hung out to dry on the grass.
Near a spring sheltered from the sun,
Flowing with a sound like a song,
Stands an old shepherd, Zu Franciscu,
With a wee bit of food,
He very slowly eats half a loaf of dark bread.
The power of the smell!
As if called by a familiar whistle,
All the dogs about line up in front of him,
Each waiting for him to throw them a piece.
I enjoy watching them.
They look like a multitude of Evangelists
Before an altar.
A little red pup,
Four paces away,
Occasionally licks his snout
And swallows empty.
A nearby little dog has sat on the ground,
Her tail wagging,
Cleaning the dirt like a brush.
A black furry head sniffs frantically,
And every now and then
Lets out a moan
That sounds just like crying.
But Ciccu, who isn’t worried
About flaccid or full bellies;
He eats and every now and then,
With a clumsy expression, says, “Hey!”
The dogs, threatened,
Turn and spin around dazed,
But none of them leaves:
They still hope
To fill their bellies!
But when, now satiated,
He puts the remaining crust of bread
Back into his bag,
The dogs, all of them,
Disappear.
Finished is the hope
Of filling their bellies!
‘A licerta e ru curzune
‘Na licerta,
Sberta sberta,
A ra loggia spalancata
De ‘na scola era ‘ncriccata,
E, ccurcata
Supra l’anta,
Tutta quanta
Rusicata, d’ ‘o barcune,
Se gudìa ro solliune.
Intra, cc’era
’Nna filèra
De sculari
Gridazzari;
Ma, chiù d’intra ancore, cc’era,
Ccu ra frunte rughijata
E ra capu ‘na nivèra,
’Nu maestro chi facìa
Llizzione ‘e giumitria.
Se chiamava ddonnu Titta
E ra crozza avìa ddiritta.
De ‘na cagna de lavagna
Scassàu pprima zerti cunti;
Pue pigliau, signàu ddui punti
E ddicìu: -Ppe d’arrivare
De ccà ccà se puotu ffare
Mille vie, billizze mie:
Chista, ‘st’àutra, chista ccà;
Ma sintiti a Ddonnu Titta,
Chi de vue de cchiù nne sa,
’A cchiù ccurta è ra diritta –
’A licerta chi sintiu
Disse: -È bberu
Ppe’ ddavèru! -
E, dde tannu, si camina,
Fuje, spritta e bbà ddiritta,
Pirzuasa ch ‘abbicina.
Doppu ‘n ‘annu, ‘na matina,
Mentre jìa
A ttruvare ‘na vicina,
’A vavìa
S’affruntàu ccu ‘nnu curzune
Chi, ‘u’ ssapìennu giumitria,
Stuorticannu si nne jìa.
’A licerta le dicìu:
-Biellu miu,
Si camini ccussì stuortu
Quannu arrivi? Doppu muortu?
A ra scola ‘un ce si’ statu?
E ru mastru ‘un te l’ha ddittu
Ca ‘u caminu cchiù bbicinu
Sulamente è ru dirittu ?
Già, i curzuni, tutti quanti,
Siti stùpiti e gnuranti.
-Hai ragiune! Vere sperte
’Un ce siti ca ‘e licerte;
Ma ‘sta vota si’ ‘nna ciota.
E ppue dire a Ddonnu Titta
Ca, ccu tutta ‘a giumitrìa,
’A cchiù storta d’ogne bbia
Quasi sempre è ra diritta!...
Chine vo’ ppriestu arrivare
È strisciannu e stuorticannu
Ch’a ‘stu munnu ha dde marciare! -
The Lizard and the Snake
A lizard,
Ever so nimbly,
Had climbed
Onto the wide-open balcony
Of a school and,
Lying on the gnawed balcony sill,
Was enjoying the blazing sun.
Inside, there was line
Of noisy students;
But even further in,
There as a teacher with a wrinkled forehead
And a snow bank on his head
Who was giving a geometry lesson.
His name was Don Titta
And he had an upright head.
From a darn blackboard,
He had first erased some calculations:
Then he began to mark two points and said:
-To get from here to here,
You can take a thousand ways, my dears,
This one, that one,
And this one here;
But listen to Don Titta,
Who knows more than you,
The shortest is the straight one.-
The lizard who heard said:
-It’s true, really! –
And from then on,
If it walks or runs away,
It jumps and goes straight,
Convinced it is getting closer.
After a year, one morning,
While going
To visit a neighbor,
Along the way it met a snake that,
Not knowing geometry,
Was going in a zigzag.
The lizard said to it:
My beautiful one,
If you walk so crooked,
When will you get there? After you die?
Haven’t you been to school?
And didn’t the teacher tell you
That the shortest path
Is only the straight one?
Yes, all you snakes
Are all stupid and ignorant.
– You’re right, you’re the only intelligent ones,
You lizards;
But this time you’re being silly.
You can tell Don Titta that,
Despite geometry,
The most crooked of any path
Is almost always the straight one!...
Whoever wants to get there quickly
Must crawl and zigzag in this world!
~ By Cav. Charles Sant’Elia
Essential Bibliography
- Umberto Bosco, Vittorio Butera, Cosenza: MIT, VIII ed., 1978
- Butera, Antologia poetica, con saggio introduttivo di Pietro Pizzarelli e note esplicative di Umberto Di Stilo, Cosenza, Pellegrini, 1984
- Butera, Canti e Cunti a cura del Centro Studi "Vittorio Butera". Stampa Sud, Lamezia Terme 2007
- Butera, Canta pueta, a cura di Vincenzo Villella e Carlo Cimino, Lamezia Terme, La Modernissima, 1990
- Butera, Inedite di Vittorio Butera, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli: 1978
- Butera, Prima cantu e ddoppu cuntu, Roma: Vittorio Bonacci, stampa 1949
- Butera, Tuornu e ccantu, tuornu e ccuntu: liriche e favole inedite, scelte, curate e presentate da Giuseppe Isnardi e Guido Cimino, Roma: Vittorio Bonacci, 1960
- Butera, Lettere in prosa e in versi, a cura del Centro Studi "Vittorio Butera". Stampa Sud, Lamezia Terme 2008
- Antonio Coltellaro La lingua di Vittorio Butera - Calabria Letteraria Editrice 2006
- Luigi Costanzo, I poeti del Reventino, in Mario Gallo (ed.), Don Luigino Costanzo e i suoi scritti, Decollatura: Grafica Reventino, 1985, pp. 313–366
- Carlo Cimino, Calabresità e universalità nella poesia di Vittorio Butera in Canta Pueta, F.lli Gigliotti, Lamezia 1990
- Giuseppe Isnardi, Frontiera Calabrese, Napoli 1965
- Antonio Piromalli, La letteratura calabrese, Pellegrini Editore, Cosenza, 1996, Vol. 2, pag. 108 - 123
- Laura Posa, BUTERA, Vittorio Maria, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 15, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1972
- Vincenzo Villella, Il paese, la cultura contadina e il tema del ritorno nella poesia di V. Butera - Butera in Canta Pueta - F.lli Gigliotti, Lamezia 1990
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