[3] During the Middle Ages, the area was home to both Romance-based dialects–the precursors to the modern Salentino–and Greek-based dialects in roughly equal measure.

Indeed, in common with most other Italian languages, there are no agreed standards for spelling, grammar or pronunciation, with each locality and even generation having its own peculiarities.

In Sicily efforts have been made by the non-profit Cadèmia Siciliana to standardise the orthography for written insular Sicilian.

The pseudonym by which it is known was chosen for specific reasons: the name Horace refers to the Latin poet with whom he shares the satirical character of his works; while Testarotta is the Italian translation of the capiruttu dialect because it always fell to the ground.

The main objective in Susanna's works is the emancipation of the proletariat and peasants, based on a language no longer sentimental like that of the late 1800s.

Pietro Gatti di Ceglie Messapica (1913-2013): together with Nicola G. De Donno and Erminio Caputo, he is one of the greatest representatives of that generation of authors who worked especially in the post-war period.