Ercole Ugo D'Andrea, il poeta del quotidiano che fu caro a Mario Luzi

Marco Laggetta 13 October 2022

Ercole Ugo D’Andrea, one of the great poets of the Italian twentieth century, close to Mario Luzi and hermeticism, was born in Galatone (Lecce), the son of two teachers. He attended the elementary school of Galatone until May 1943, when the war conflict led to the early closure of the institute.

He moved with his mother and his siblings Aurelio and Rita to Civitella Alfedena, in Abruzzo, his father's hometown, which he trusted would keep the family safe from the bombings. Paradoxically, those places proved to be more exposed to the horror of war and those troubled months forged the poet's character and sensitivity.

In the summer of 1944, the family returned to Galatone and, after finishing elementary and middle school, Ercole Ugo D’Andrea obtained, in the 1954/1955 academic year, a classical high school diploma at the Nardò high school. The same year, he enrolled at the University of Rome, majoring in Law. He stayed in Rome for two years but with poor results, often preferring the courses taught by Ungaretti to law lessons.

A severe depression and a deep existential crisis led him to abandon the faculty in the capital and enroll in Modern Literature in Lecce, obtaining a degree in 1969 with a thesis on Giovanni Verga.

He soon becomes a teacher of literature and begins to produce increasingly valuable poetic compositions that receive considerable appreciation, more frequently outside of Salento and Puglia. However, D’Andrea perseveres in working and composing verses in solitude, almost in isolation, in his house in Galatone, rejecting the worldliness and growing officiality of his role as a poet.

D’Andrea delivers himself to the immortality of great literature as a shy character of extraordinary sensitivity, with a poetic voice addressed to affections, childhood, the seasons, the home, the district, the mother, culture and Christian tradition.

Among his works: : Rosario di stagioni (Quaderni del Critone, 1964), Spazio domestico (Rebellato, 1967) Ozi e negozi (Vallecchi, 1973), Bellezza della madre (Capone, 1981), La confettiera di Sèvres (Lacaita, 1989), Fra grata e gelsomino (Garzanti, 1990), Il bosco di melograni (Passigli, 1996), L’orto dei ribes di corallo (Lacaita, 1999), Scardanelli (Passigli, 1999).

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Ercole Ugo D’Andrea, the poet of everyday life who was dear to Mario Luzi

D’Andrea delivers himself to the immortality of great literature as a shy character of extraordinary sensitivity, with a poetic voice addressed to affections, childhood, the seasons, the home, the district, the mother, culture and Christian tradition.

Written by Marco Laggetta

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Ercole Ugo D’Andrea, the poet of everyday life who was dear to Mario Luzi

D’Andrea delivers himself to the immortality of great literature as a shy character of extraordinary sensitivity, with a poetic voice addressed to affections, childhood, the seasons, the home, the district, the mother, culture and Christian tradition.

Written by Marco Laggetta

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