An Italian poet, one of the key figures of modernism and one of the founders of Hermeticism in 20th-century poetry. Born in 1888 in Alexandria (Egypt), he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris; during World War I he served in the Italian army and at the front wrote the texts that became his first book, “Il porto sepolto” (1916). Among Ungaretti’s most important books are “Allegria di naufragi” (1919) and “Sentimento del tempo” (1933); from 1936 to 1942 he taught Italian literature at the University of São Paulo (Brazil), and from 1942 he taught at the University of Rome. He died in Milan on the night of 1–2 June 1970.