Council for 
Association for the promotion of the Ligurian language
The Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage (Conseggio pe-o patrimònio linguistico ligure) is an organisation of people committed to promoting the historical Romance varieties of Liguria. In particular, it aims to foster conditions to facilitate the learning of the linguistic heritage of the region, both at the level of scientific research and at the level of dissemination.
The Council, as a non-political organisation, also proposes to dialogue with the institutions to launch initiatives related to its objectives. For these purposes, it has an independent scientific committee.
Membership of the Council is voluntary and open to all. You may reach us by writing to the address info@conseggio-ligure.org or via our Facebook page.
Latest news
Collaboration with the Académie des langues dialectales
The members of the Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage are happy to announce the start of a partnership with the Académie des langues dialectales of the Principality of Monaco, an organization that is devoted to the study, the dissemination and the protection of Monégasque and the other Ligurian varieties. The Académie was founded in 1981 with the authorisation of the government of the Principality and the support of H.S.H. prince Ranier III. It is made up of internationally renowned linguists and scholars. Amongst past members of the Académie we would like to particularly recall the linguists Giulia Petracco Sicardi and Fiorenzo Toso.
We would like to thank the president of the Académie, Dr. Claude Passet, for this collaboration, which will enable our associations to participate in joint projects in the field of linguistics.
Conference «Leggere e scrivere in genovese»
The Council for Ligurian Linguistic Heritage is organizing a conference to study and reflect on the written usage of Genoese. The event will take place in Genoa on Tuesday, November 19, 2023 at the Sala dei Chierici of the Berio Library in Genoa, from 2pm to 5.30pm.
Conference
Zimme de braxa – Ligurian literature series
The first three books of Zimme de braxa are finally available, in collaboration with the publisher Zona. This new book series aims to offer an overview of the vast spectrum of Ligurian literature from medieval times to the present day, spanning a variety of textual genres, themes and linguistic areas.
Zimme de braxa
Anthology of Ligurian literature
The Conseggio is pleased to introduce the Anthology of Ligurian literature, a commissioned work created by Alessandro Guasoni.
Readers will get a glimpse of the gradual evolution of Genoese and Ligurian literature over the centuries, both in terms of language and content. From the civic-epic poetry of the Genoese Anonym and Foglietta, to the Baroque and Gongorist inspiration of Cavalli; from the comic poetry of Piaggio, to the intimate, pastoral lyricism of Firpo – all literary movements are presented and together comprise a rich corpus that remains enjoyable to read today.
Anthology
Fiorenzo Toso
Prof. Fiorenzo Toso, professor of general linguistics at the University of Sassari, but in Liguria known mainly for his innovative studies on Genoese, its lexicon, its literature and its presence overseas, passed away prematurely on September 24. He translated numerous works from French and Spanish into Italian and from Italian, English and Spanish into Genoese. He also worked on issues related to linguistic minorities in Italy and Europe, lexicography and etymological studies. It is particularly painful for the author of this note to write Fiorenzo’s obituary, both because we had known each other all our lives and because he was one of the staunchest supporters of my approach to poetry in Genoese. From the late 1970s, when we both participated in the “Lauro d’Oro” poetry contest, to when he included my works in his seminal anthology Letteratura genovese e ligure (Marietti, 1989-1991), to when he founded and directed the literature series A Parma for the publisher Le Mani, up to the grammar we coauthored, Il genovese in tasca (Assimil, 2010) and the recent collaborations for the book series E restan forme by the publisher Zona, our choices in linguistic and also aesthetic matters proceeded hand in hand. Both in poetry and prose, Toso was in fact the first, in modern times, to become an advocate of a literary form of the Genoese language – in a sense a dignified version, but also rooted in contemporary use, based on in-depth studies of classical Genoese and lexical salvage from the works of the past, especially from the Baroque period, as well as from the peripheral Genoese still spoken today. His battle for the recognition of both the socio-historical and literary importance of Genoese cost him, especially at the beginning of his academic career, mistrust and misunderstanding, but he achieved an important success with the exhibition Genoese: History of a language, which he organized at the State Archives in September 2017 – an event that represented an achievement already from its title alone, since the term “language” and not “dialect” was used with reference to Genoese in an institutional setting and with great prominence. In a life entirely dedicated to this precise purpose – in addition to his family, another staple in his life – Toso produced an astonishingly thick and accurate quantity of scientific and literary texts, as if he knew that the time allotted to him was not much, and he followed the advice that the Genoese Anonym – the medieval father of our literature – which Fiorenzo placed as the epigraph of his Linguistic History of Liguria (Recco-Genoa, 1995): “Lavore, quando è saxon / l’omo, avanti che passe l’ora: / a compir un faito bon / non è mai da dar demora”. (Verse LXXVIII)
Alessandro Guasoni