Pierluigi Cappello was born in Gemona del Friuli in 1967 and raised in Chiusaforte—a village of no more than 800 inhabitants in a valley of the Alps, all but cut off from the cultural and political fluctuations of the Italian peninsula. Just north are the borders of Austria and Slovenia, and ninety kilometers to the southeast is Trieste, once home to the poet Umberto Saba, with whom Cappello shares a troubled, lyrical simplicity and a deep allegiance to his surrounding landscape. As ardently as Italy has claimed him as its poet, awarding him the Viareggio Répaci prize for his 2010 collection Mandate a dire all’imperatore (Go Tell It to the Emperor) and the Bagutta Opera Prima and Montale Europa prizes for previous collections, Cappello remains distinctly Friulian, with two volumes of poetry published in his region’s dialect. (updated 10/2015)