An Italian poet, although he was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1888. He studied at Paris and fought with the Italian army during World War I where he began to write poetry, published as Il porto sepoloto (The Buried Port). He became professor of Italian literature at Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1936 and later at Rome (1942). His poems are characterised by symbolism, compressed imagery and modern verse structure, and became the foundation of the hermetic movement (from the ermetico = obscure: a term used by a critic of his work). He died in Milan in 1970. To non-Italian-speaking people (such as myself), hearing his poetry recited makes the language sound even more flowing and beautiful than it usually does.