"A le spalle di" From L. Pirandello's "Il fu Mattia Pascal": "Chiusa nel sogno del suo maestoso passato, non ne vuol più sapere di questa vita meschina che si ostina a formicolarle intorno. Quando una

Yanis Batura

"A le spalle di" From L. Pirandello's "Il fu Mattia Pascal": "Chiusa nel sogno del suo maestoso passato, non ne vuol più sapere di questa vita meschina che si ostina a formicolarle intorno. Quando una città ha avuto una vita come quella di Roma, con caratteri così spiccati e particolari, non può diventare una città moderna, cioè una città come un’altra. Roma giace là, col suo gran cuore frantumato, a le spalle del Campidoglio. Son forse di Roma queste nuove case?" What does "a le spalle del Campidoglio" mean here? The English translation of the book (http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300381.txt) has this translation: "Rome lies over there, with her great heart broken to fragments on the spurs of the Capitol". Is "on the spurs of the Capitol" a correct translation?

Sep 5, 2015 4:16 AM

Answers · 16

/Alle spalle di XYZ/ is the version that is nowadays mostly used, and it literally means: behind XYZ,. Examples: -- C'e un orso alle tue spalle, scappa! -- Alle spalle del Monte Terminillo, vicino a Roma, c'e` il piccolo paese di Leonessa It is clear the direction when XYZ is a human being (i.e. in the direction that the person can't see), but when XYZ is a thing /alle spalle/ could be ambiguous. I everyday usage, this is the literally meaning. The usual metaphorical meaning is 'not seen by XYZ', 'something done secretely', as in: - Il mio collega Marco, di cui mi fidavo (whom I trusted) ha fatto un piano alle mie spalle per prendere il mio posto.

September 5, 2015

Actually, ancient Rome (Foro Romano) IS /on the spurs of Campidoglio/, so the tranlslator DID NOT translate but said something true, tha very well describes the situation. Here is a link to a picture of a reconstruction of the ancient situation: http://www.centrostudilaruna.it/wp-content/uploads/roma-campidoglio.jpg

September 5, 2015

Hello Yanis, in your sentence, avere qualcosa alle spalle means to have something behind Roma giace là, col suo gran cuore frantumato, a le spalle del Campidoglio Roma lies over there, with her heart broken, behind the Campidoglio I don't think that on the spurs on has something to do with alle spalle di

September 5, 2015

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September 10, 2015

I don;t think everybody knows where Campidoglio/ is, (.... so the translator DID NOT translate but said something true ...) The translator outdid Pirandello, the two meanings, the Italian and the English are quite different. Translating 'on the spurs of XYZ' back to Italian will give you the Italian expression /ai piedi di XYZ/, which in my view better describes the situation. We cannot know whether L. Pirandello though something and wrote another thing, or the typographer did a mistake, maybe comparing with other editions or reprint could help (if such a necessity arises). But for the Italian language I think it is one of /alle spalle .../ or /ai piedi di .../ which never overlap in meaning.

September 6, 2015

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