We continue our exploration of poetry from the Italian City of Literature — Milano City of Literature.

Meet the Italian poet Luigi Ballerini. Today, we introduce his poetry ognuno poi legge come vuole (“everyone then reads as they wish”) in a Ukrainian translation by Oleksandr Khint.

Poet, essayist, and translator Luigi Ballerini has taught modern and contemporary Italian literature at New York University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Yale University. He has translated works by American authors, including Melville, William Carlos Williams, Gertrude Stein, and several American poets. A collection of his poetry was published in the Oscar series by Mondadori in 2016. Kefalonia (2005, 2013), a two-voice monologue in free verse, has been translated into English, Russian, and Spanish. He is also the author of the gastro-philosophical essay Le anguille di Leonardo (“Leonardo’s Eels,” 2025).

We can hear his poetry performed by the author himself.