Giovanni Delogu Ibba

Linguistic pluralism, a fundamental characteristic of Sardinian culture over the centuries, was confirmed even in the eighteenth century as the founding quality of the island's literary production.
In particular, this choice can be found both in didactic and dramaturgical works, even if it is on the poetic side that the most remarkable results are obtained, with a preference for Italian and Sardinian. The work of Giovanni Delogu Ibba testifies to the Sardinian culture of the eighteenth century, characterized by the mixture of different languages: Latin, Catalan, Castilian, and Italian, which was imposed by the Piedmontese as an official language and spread to the ruling and intellectual classes of the island. Giovanni Maria Delogu Ibba was born in a village in the Sassari area around 1650 and was rector of the parish of Villanova Monteleone, where he died in 1738. His fundamental work is the “Index Libri Vitae”, a vast collection consisting of seven sections: the first five written in Latin are epigrams dedicated to the life of Our Lady, Jesus, the saints and religious mysteries, the sixth part contains the “Goso”, the sacred hymns written in Sardinian Logudorese and Castilian in honor of various saints. The last part, on the other hand, consists of the sacred tragedy entitled “Tragedy in su isclavamentu de su sacrosantu corpus de Nostru Sennore Iesu Christu”, written in a cultured and archaicizing logudorese. Like many Sardinian intellectuals, Delogu Ibba feels the need to express himself in different forms and languages to represent the multifaceted identity of Sardinia, increasingly torn

between native culture and external contributions.

Update

4/3/2025 - 19:11