Giovanni Berchet (Italian pronunciation:[dʒoˈvanniberˈʃɛ]; 23 December 1783 – 23 December 1851) was an Italian poet andpatriot. He wrote an influential manifesto onItalian Romanticism,Lettera semiseria di Grisostomo, which appeared in 1816, and contributed toIl Conciliatore, a reformist periodical.
Berchet was born inMilan. He participated in various nationalist activities, including therevolutions that shook the Italian peninsula in 1821. Thereafter, he lived in exile, primarily inBritain, until returning to Italy to take part in the revolutions of 1848. His works includeIl trovatore,Il romito del Cenisio, and, most famously,I profughi di Parga (1821).
Lettera semiseria (Half-serious letter) presents thetranslations (written by Berchet) of two poems byGottfried August Bürger as an example of a new kind of poetry, and expresses the author's thought about contents and language that can reach a new public: that is, no longer a public of academic readers, but the so-called "third class", i.e. the bourgeoisie, which is waiting for books that are interesting, full of real feelings, simple in language, withoutmythology and classic models. This text took an important part in the debate over Romanticism that developed in Italy (specially inMilan) in the second decade of the 19th century.
Giovanni was the grandfather of the historianGuglielmo Berchet.
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