Forgive my audacity... ". Trifone Nutricati, Giosue Carducci and the Barbarian Muse

The article reconstructs the short and partially unpublished correspondence between Giosue Carducci and Trifone Nutricati, a minor poet from Puglia : a correspondence beginning in 1879. After engaging with different literary models - in particular the late Romanticism of Prati and Aleardi -, Nutricati embraced Heine's poetry and aesthetics and pursued a form of balanced realism avoiding the excesses that were typical of the Scapigliatura. Like many of his contemporaries, Nutricati was also fascinated by Carducci's Odi barbare. Thus, he tried his hand at classical metrics and composed the Odi barbarissime, which he dedicated to Carducci in the hope of obtaining his approval, but he had to wait a very long time for Carducci's reply.