Amalia Guglielminetti (1881 – 1941) – Italian poet

Italy joined the conflict on the side of the Allies on 23rd May 1915, declaring war on her former ally The Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Amalia was born in Turin on 4th April 1881.  Her parents were Pietro Guglielminetti and his wife Felicita, nee Lavezzata.  When Pietro died, the family went to live with Felicita’s mother.  Amalia was educated in a convent school and began writing poetry in 1901 for the Sunday Supplement of the newspaper “Gazetta del Popolo”.  Her poetry collections were published in 1903, 1908, 1917 and 1925.  Between 1916 and 1925, Amalia wrote childrens’ stories.

Amalia travelled throughout Italy lecturing and urging women to speak out for themselves.  She created and edited “La Seduzioni”, a literary magazine.  In Amalia’s own words “to found a literary review is, for a woman, a more momentous event than that of taking a husband.”

Amalia died in 1941 in Turin, following a fall during an air raid.


“L’antico pianto” by Amalia Guglielminetti

Quindi prosegua per cammini ombrosi,
a fior di labbro modulando un canto
che per me l’altra notte mi composi.

Poichè talor non piango io il mio pianto,
lo canto, e qualche mia triste canzone
fu come il sangue del mio cuore infranto.

Tempo fu che le mie forze più buone
stremai in canti a’ piedi d’un Signore
che m’arse di ben vana passïone.

Io piangevo così note d’amore,
come la cieca in sul quadrivio, volta
al sole, canta il suo buio dolore
e non s’avvede che nessun l’ascolta.

As previously explained, when I began this commemorative exhibition project “Female Poets of the First World War”, I tried to find poets from as many countries of the world in order to demonstrate the global impact of the conflict.  To this end, some of the poems included do not relate directly to WW1.  However, as a poet, I feel certain that the world- changing events of 1914 – 1919 would have inspired a poet to write, even though their work may not have been published.

I also prefer to leave the poems in their original languages - though I sometimes manage to find translations, this is not always possible.