Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888-1970), called by T. S. Eliot ‘one of the most authentic poets of Western Europe,’ was, along with Eugenio Montale, the most significant Italian poet of the twentieth century. His first book, Il Porto Sepolto, was written while he served as an infantryman in World War 1. It was followed by five further books of poetry, including Il Dolore (Sorrow, 1947), on the death of his nine-year old son, Antonio, and culminating in his collected poems, Vita d’un uomo (The Life of a Man) in 1969. His travel writings and essays were collected in Il Deserto e Dopo (The Desert and Afterwards, 1961). He died on 2 June, 1970, in Milan.