“The detractors of translation are always claiming that poetry, like Frascati, doesn’t travel well—non viaggia bene. But John DuVal’s stunning version of Pascarella’s barroom epic brings it safely across the water. He keeps not only the sonnet form but the way in which the Romanesco poet used it; he captures everywhere the poem’s earthy and artful garrulity, the savor of language delighting in itself.”

—Richard Wilbur

“Just in time for the upcoming Columbus quinquecentennial, John DuVal has given us a sprightly rendition of a little-known mock epic that has, itself, long awaited rediscovery. DuVal’s easygoing assonances and unfettered rhythms are as playfully disrespectful of the traditional sonnet form as ins Pascarella’s tongue-in-cheek treatment of his sacrosanct subject. The pleasure that he obviously takes in translating this deflationary adaptation of history from the Romanesco dialect of yesteryear into a jauntily current American idiom will certainly be shared by many readers.”

—Norman R. Shapiro