Mario dell’Arco was an Italian poet who wrote in a central Italian dialect of Romanesco. The first book-length translation of his work in any language, Day Lasts Forever: Selected Poems of Mario dell’Arco, was published by World Poetry in 2024. The book, translated into English by Marc Alan Di Martino, was longlisted for the 2025 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. A native of Rome, dell’Arco lived from 1905 to 1996. Deeply influenced by Martial, Horace, and the poets of the Greek anthology, he published approximately sixty collections of Romanesco verse in a career which spanned half a century. “Fine der monno” first appeared in his 1947 collection La stella de carta (Paper Star) from Fratelli Palombi in Rome. The poem has been translated into various Italian dialects and European languages; this is its first appearance in English.

In addition to Day Lasts Forever, Marc Alan Di Martino’s books include Love Poem with Pomegranate, published by Ghost City in 2023; Still Life with City, from Pski’s Porch in 2022; and Unburial, from Kelsay Books in 2019. His poems and translations have appeared in Rattle, iamb, Palette Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. Currently a reader for Baltimore Review, Di Martino lives in Italy.