Alberti, Rafael / Geist & Leporace (trs.): Rome: Pedestrians Beware

Swan Isle Press, paperback Publication Date: January 22nd, 2025 Translated by: Anthony L. Geist & Giuseppi Leporace Photography by: Adam Weintraub Publisher Marketing: Rafael Alberti's collection of poems set in vibrant Rome, his home in exile from Spain. After his long exile in France and Argentina following the Spanish Civil War, Rafael Alberti's final home in exile was Rome, where he wrote Roma: Peligro para caminantes (Rome: Pedestrians Beware). There, Romulus and Remus sneak down to the Tiber to suckle on feral cats, a jack of all trades pisses on the poet's shoes, whistling as he walks away, and in the Campo de' Fiori the poet compares sonnets with the wandering spirit of Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, all in the shadow of the glory of Rome's imperial ruins. Two suites of sonnets open and close the book, while in between, Alberti displays masterful poems in metered and free verse, rhyming couplets, and a numbered series of short poems. The blending of classical tradition with post