The Lord Mayor who was a translator

GAETANO NEGRI E PIERINO PORCOSPINO

by Valeria Barbieri

Heinrich Hoffmann’s Struwwelpeter, written in 1844, is one of the most famous illustrated books for children in German-speaking countries. We owe its best known Italian translation to Gaetano Negri, an important Milanese politician and distinguished man of letters, who took pleasure in learning new languages by translating them. Pierino Porcospino, with its distinctive “literary flavour”, is the outcome of one of these exercises.