ARICI, CESARE. — Neoclassical poet, born 11–12 June 1782 in Brescia, died in 1836. Initially enrolled in the criminal court, he later became professor of rhetoric and history at the Liceo. In the final years of his life he was also appointed secretary of the Ateneo Bresciano.
Highly praised by Monti and Giordani, he gained fame chiefly for his didactic poems: *La coltivazione degli olivi*, *Il corallo*, *La pastorizia*, *L’origine delle fonti*, ingenious and formally elaborate but cold and lacking poetic inspiration. He tested his stylistic skill by translating all of Virgil into blank verse and by pretending to translate the Odes of Bacchylides from Greek. These later works were meant as a contribution to the anti-Romantic polemics then raging, in which he also took a direct part. Subsequently his stance softened to the point that one can discern in him a certain evolution and rapprochement with the Romantics, as seen in his blank-verse poem *Il camposanto di Brescia*, in his sacred hymns, and in an epic poem of which only eleven cantos were written, *La Gerusalemme distrutta*.
This evolution, however, did not deepen his thought or intensify his feeling; it remained entirely external and stylistic. He began under Parini and Monti, but as other poets and literary genres came into vogue he imitated them in turn. Thus one can detect in his works the influence of Foscolo, Manzoni, and even Leopardi; yet just as he did not relive, recreate, and adapt the classical world to his times, so the Bible and the inspiration he drew from it in his later years did not give him the strength to rise poetically to a genuinely religious meditation and sentiment.
**