Carlo Porta

In 1796, the Napoleonic Wars pushed Porta to find a job in Venice (where one of his brothers lived) and he remained there until 1799.

His political satires were mainly sonnets, such as Paracar che scappee de Lombardia ("Scarecrows [literally 'milestones', referred to Frenchmen] who are escaping from Lombardy", 1814), E daj con sto chez-nous, ma sanguanon ("And go on with this 'chez-nous', but bloody Heaven...", a satire about French, 1811), Marcanagg i politegh secca ball (1815, "Goddam ballbreaker politicians"), Quand vedessev on pubblegh funzionari ("When I'd see a public officer...", 1812).

Porta satirized the upcoming new Milanese aristocracy, too, in La nomina del cappellan (1819, "The chaplain's appointment"), making a parody of the episode of the "vergine cuccia" ("virgin pet-pup") in Il Giorno (Il Mezzogiorno), by Giuseppe Parini (a satire itself).

His best works are probably those portraying the Milanese popular life, with the collections Olter desgrazzi de Giovannin Bongee ("Other Troubles of Johnny Bolgeri", 1814), El lament del Marchionn di gamb avert ("The Lament of Melchior the Crippled", 1816) and what is generally considered his masterwork, La Ninetta del Verzee ("Little Nina, from Greens Market", 1815), a meaningful and heartbreaking monologue/confession of a prostitute.

In 1816 Porta joined the Romantic literarian movement (Sonettin col covon, "Little sonnet, with a big tail"), obviously in his own way: in the very last strophe, he called himself a dumb, meaning instead the opposite.