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Luciano Somma
Cristo Napulitano
(Neapolitan Christ)
Neapolitan Poems
Translated by Charles Sant’Elia 2010
Charles Sant’Elia is an attorney and translator who currently
serves as the CEO of Enotria Translations, a Manhattan-based multiservice
translation firm. He formerly lived in Naples and Florence,
and studied in both Italy and the United States. Sant’Elia is fluent
and literate in Italian, French and Spanish and formerly worked as
a consultant and translator at UNESCO. Sant’Elia has also authored
case commentaries on Italian and French court decisions and has
translated numerous Italian, French and Swiss court decisions and
arbitral awards. He recently translated Luciano Somma’s 2000
collection Cristo Napulitano into English. A supporter of efforts to
preserve the history and culture of the South of Italy, he is also currently
serving on a task force for the Italian Language Foundation
which seeks to promote the study and knowledge of Italian in the
United States. He is also an active member of the Italy-America
Chamber of Commerce.
Luciano Somma was born in Naples on 18 March 1940, where
he currently resides, and is one of Italy’s and Naples’ best known
living poets and songwriters active in writing in both Italian and
Neapolitan. He began writing poetry at the age of thirteen. In 1962,
he became editor-in-chief of Tribuna Artistica. Somma’s first verse
dates back to 1953 and his first songs to 1956 and was enrolled in
the SIAE (Italian Association of Authors and Publishers) in 1967 as
a literary author (lyricist). Since the advent of the internet, Somma
has become involved in numerous literary websites, blogs and independent
radio transmissions. Several newspapers and periodicals,
including Il Giornale of Milan, have spoken of him as perhaps the
poet with the greatest online presence. Somma is the author of over
1,000 songs in Italian and Neapolitan of various genres ranging