Another Roman Sonnet from “Er Belli” – “The end of the conclave” (1831)

Here is another of the brilliant Roman dialect sonnets by Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli.

Belli was a sharp observer of like in 19th c. Rome.

L’upertura der concrave

Senti, senti castello come spara!
Senti montescitorio come sona!
è sseggno ch’è ffinita sta caggnara,
e ’r Papa novo ggià sbenedizziona.

Bbe’? cche Ppapa averemo? è ccosa chiara:
o ppiù o mmeno la solita-canzona.
Chi vvôi che ssia? quarc’antra faccia amara.
Compare mio, Dio sce la manni 1 bbona.

Comincerà ccor fà aridà li peggni,
cor rivôtà le carcere de ladri,
cor manovrà li soliti congeggni.

Eppoi, doppo tre o cquattro sittimane,
sur fà 2 de tutti l’antri 3 Santi-Padri,
diventerà, Ddio me perdoni, un cane.

The Great Roman™

2 febbraio 1831

Listen!  Listen to how Castel Sant’Angelo fires cannons!
Listen to how Montecistorio rings bells!
It’s the sign that this dog and pony show is done,
the new Pope is already giving his blessing.

Well? What kind of Pope will we have? It is clear:
more or less, the same old song.
Who do you think it will be? Some other grim face,
my friend, may God send us good turn.

He will begin by having the things pawned at Monte di Pietà returned,
by again emptying the thieves’ prisons,
by operating the usual mechanisms.

And then, after three or four weeks,
by acting like all the other Holy Fathers,
he will become, God forgive me, a dog.