Meo Patacca

This poem is written in Romanesco, (the Italian dialect spoken in Rome) of the 17th century, and is important because it reveals some elements of both the language and the lifestyle of the Roman people in that period.

It relates the story of a sgherro or a mercenary, who, at the news of the siege of Vienna, decides to organize an expedition to help free the city.

The siege really took place in 1683 when the Ottoman army, led by Kara Mustafa Pasha (Bassà in the poem) besieged Vienna for two months.

A second edition was published in 1823 with the title Il Meo Patacca ovvero Roma in feste nei trionfi di Vienna.

In the 19th century the character of Meo Patacca was played by two famous actors, Annibale Sansoni and Filippo Tacconi, nicknamed "il Gobbo" ("the Hunchback").

Meo Patacca, the greatest of all swordsmen in Rome, gets the brilliant idea to amass a troupe of brave and battle-hardened mercenaries (Sgherri arditi e scaltri) to break the siege and save the city.

Questi so' fiumi con le fogge usate, Assai famosi in tell'antiche carte: Nilo, Gange, Danubio, e c'è di più, Detta rio de la Platta, il gran Pegù.

Those are rivers each with his attitude, Very famous in the ancient maps: Nile, Ganges, Danube, and there's more, Known as Río de la Plata, the Great Pegù.

Another pun is in the last verse: the runners of the race which was held during Carnival were in reality not the "Barbari" ("Barbarians"), but the "Barberi" ("Berberian" horses, from north Africa).