Abstract

Libero de Libero’s letters held at the Archivio Urbinate shed new light on his significant and complex forty-year relationship with eminent critic and translator Carlo Bo. In the thirties de Libero was associated with the artists of the “Scuola romanaµ whereas Bo had strong ties with the Florentine hermetic poets. Their paths did not cross until de Libero commissioned Bo to write a few articles in the early forties. As the director of the journal Parallelo, de Libero eventually rejected two essays proposed by Bo in 1943. In the subsequent years, he was bitterly disappointed with Bo’s critical writings on his own poetry which he did not deem truthfully appreciative. After an eighteen-year break, they resumed contact and strengthened their friendship in 1971 when de Libero won the Viareggio Prize and was highly praised by Bo in several articles