Lucetto Ramella (1917-2014)

Born in Oneglia, Ramella began promoting the Ligurian language in 1977 by systematically recording the testimony of a generation that was rapidly passing away. He documented his findings in several volumes, including Oneglia, Oneglia bella (1978) and A Cengia (1979), which collect nursery rhymes, proverbs, sayings and folk tales, and offer glimpses of life in the past: games, work on land and at sea, and traditional medicine. Basse Bassette (1980) and Dodici poesie di Liguria (1984) are collections of poetry in Ligurian and Italian, while Careghetta D’Ou (1981) is an engaging grammar that Rohlfs called “a true masterpiece” of its kind. He was also active in dialect theatre. His comedy Cacelotti e Ciantafurche, published in book form in 1982, was chosen by the municipality of Imperia to celebrate the city’s sixtieth anniversary and staged by the Benedusi company. Ramella is also known as a writer on food: his short book Ricette tradizionali della Liguria, now regarded as a classic, recommended the approach to eating now known as the Mediterranean diet many years before it became familiar.

Basse bassette

Quandu a l’eu picenen
in ch’in sciùsciu sulu
a l’aveeva vusciüu smurtâ
tütte e basse bassette
che in ta nötte funda
i vuava in ta vallâ.

Aù che a son cresciüu
a nu son tantu scangiau:
au ciàiu da lüna
a m’accuntenteeva
nu de smurtale tütte
ma de assèndine üna.

U viandante

I-na bursacca veggia appesa au collu,
patèlle ai péi,
ai fianchi i-na franèlla,
in pâ de braghe a righe,
u passu stancu,
u se ferma a beve l’àigua a’a funtanella.

Dunde ti vai, bell’ommu, pe sta stradda?
Forsci i-na mâi au spéta là luntan,
forsci in travàiu,
o u pensa a i-na garsuna
che magari a s’è zà maiâ
lazü au paìse, stanca de aspitâ…

Ma vellu u beve u beve e u nu rispunde,
u sguardu ch’u te mìa e u nu te vé:
forsci u l’è in mattu,
forsci u l’è in gran saggiu
che u pureeva andâ in carossa
ma u va a pè.

I soi prublemi u i porta in ta bursacca.
Perché u camìne dunca u nu se sà.
U beve ancù in sciàu d’àigua a’a funtanella,
u scrolla in pocu a testa e u se ne va…

A veggetta

I-na veggetta stanca
sula in ta sò stànsia
a pensa ai tempi longhi
da sò infànsia…

U n’è passau di anni,
a n’ha streppau di föii au calendaiu…

I regordi.

Sò pâi, a mâi Virginia,
Censen, u primmu amù
(a cunserva ancù
in penscieu passu in tu vucabulaiu…)

Sò fìu,
bravu cumme in sù,
mortu in tu trentasinque in Abissinia.

A begatta de péssa,
u vestì giancu da Cumenion.

Nint’autru:
tütta a sò vitta
a stà in t’in pessigu…

Ina lagrima
ch’a brüxia, a brüxia, a brüxia
a ghe china zü p’a faccia.

A veggetta
a se sente ancù ciü sula…

A dixe in’uasiòn
e a smorta a lüxe.