Giovanni Verga, the Most Important Italian Verist

Bridget Delaney
4 min readJun 23, 2019

Giovanni Verga was a playwright during the time of the Italian Renaissance (McClintock). Originally, it was thought that Verga was not a major influence in Italian writing, but as scholars have studied more of his writings, it has become clear that he is one of the greatest Italian novelists (Giovanni) and playwrights. In fact, Verga is now considered the chief Italian verist (McClintock). The verists were writers that decided to write about life as it was (realism) rather than conform to the styles of Romanticism and Classicism (Ripskis).

Since Verga was a verist, he felt that it was important to write about the people that he knew. Being that he had a Sicilian background (Ragusa 467) and also spent time in Florence and Milan (Giovanni) , he wrote about those towns peasants and wealthy, respectively. Most of Verga’s writing had to do with the struggle for existence. What he wrote largely depended on the type of life he wanted to present. He was able to show different customs and characters because of his writing (Struggle 179).

One of the main struggles people faced was that of the weather. It was extremely important to the people in the country that nice weather occurred because workers were only paid for the work that they actually did. There was nothing like an hourly wage. Thus, if it was a rainy day or there were some other type of weather hazard, the workers did not get any pay because they did not work. This made life difficult for them as any time a series of bad weather came through, they were not able to do work to be able to earn wages to live (Struggle 180).

Verga also illustrates that most people were not familiar with common hygienic practices (Disasters 285). Because of this, it was easy for diseases to spread. A disease that Verga often wrote about is cholera. He wrote about cholera in many of his works, even mentioning an epidemic. He was trying to make the problem known among his countrymen (Disasters 283). He wanted them to see the problems about the plague and those related to it. He found that there was also a mistreatment of those people who had been suspected of spreading the plague and included that in his writing (Disasters 286).

Verga also wrote about another disease that he called “malaria” (Disasters 287). This is not the disease that is commonly known as malaria today. This disease did not have to be contracted in swampy areas or from mosquitos. Instead, this disease was one in which an infection and fever were common (Disasters 287). He also found that a terrible result of the struggles against bad weather and illnesses was that of the mortal fall of young women (Struggle 183).

It is said that Verga to tersely and accurately capture human feelings while keeping a lyrical quality to his writing. It can be said that even though lyrical, Verga’s style becomes “sober and concise, even essential” (Patruna 287). Even though Verga’s writing helped to start a verist movement among writers in Italy (Giovanni), he was not truly given his due by his contemporaries (Ragusa 467).

Because of the lyrical qualities of his work, in 1888, Stanasloa Gastaldon, already a popular composer, asked permission to set Cavalleria rustica to music. Verga immediately agreed, but he did not offer any help in writing the libretto. One theory is that he was skeptical about the outcome (Klein 351).

However, Verga shouldn’t have been skeptical. Cavalleria rusticana has gone on to become what is probably the most famous verist opera in existence. The opera did and has done more to bring popularity to Verga’s writings than any of his contemporary writers or critics did (Ragusa 467). Verga died on January 27, 1922 in Catania, Sicily. His works live on in Italian and in English thanks to the translations of D.H. Lawrence (Giovanni).

“Giovanni Verga | Biography ­ Italian Author.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia

Britannica. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Klein, John W. “Pietro Mascagni And Giovanni Verga.” Music and Letters: 350­-57. Print.

McClintock, Lander. “Giovanni Verga (1840­1922).” Giovanni Verga (1840­-1922). Theatre

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Patruno, Nicola, and Giovanni Cecchetti. “Giovanni Verga.” Italica: 286­-88. Print.

Ragusa, Olga, and Alfred Alexander. “Giovanni Verga. A Great Writer and His World.” Italica:

Ripskis, Al. “Who Are the Verists?” Who Are the Verists? Unlock Your Life. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Verga, Giovanni, and Anthony J. De Vito. “Disasters and Disease in the Work of Giovanni

Verga.” Italica: 279. Print.

Verga, Giovanni, and Anthony J. De Vito. “The Struggle for Existence in the Work of Giovanni

Verga.” Italica: 179. Print.

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