Dalla buona voglia alla “realtà rugosa”: figure femminili in Foglio di via

Abstract

This essay examines the representation of female figures in Fortini’s Foglio di via, focusing on the evolution of their symbolic and ideological role between the 1946 and 1967 editions. Through an analysis of the sections Elegie and Altri versi, as well as several early poems later collected in Versi primi e distanti, the study traces the transition from the Montalian model of the salvific woman to a concrete and historically grounded female figure. The essay highlights Fortini’s gradual overcoming of love conceived as an individualistic and narcissistic refuge, replaced by an ethical conception of love open to the “rugged reality” of history. By comparing Fortini’s poetry with literary models such as Montale, Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, and especially Rimbaud, the article demonstrates how the transformation of female figures reflects the author’s broader poetic and political shift from Hermeticism toward a poetry of collective commitment.