Poetic Definition of “Aggiornare”

«Torniamo all’antico, sarà un progresso.”» - Giuseppe Verdi (“Let us return to the past — it will be a step forward.”)

In searching for the heart of the Italian word, aggiornamento, I came across an earlier meaning of the verb aggiornare. This discovery became the third source of inspiration for my poetic character, Fioravante!

This word has much deeper literary roots, beyond the modern meaning to "update": it symbolized the passage from darkness to light, from uncertainty to clarity, with the arrival of dawn, of consciousness, of vision.

According to Vocabolario Treccani*, in Renaissance and early modern Italian, Bembo, Ariosto, and Alfieri used the word in a more poetic way which aligned with its root, giorno, meaning “day.”

In his epic poem Orlando Furioso, Ludovico Ariosto uses aggiornare in an impersonal manner to mean “the arrival of dawn”:

Cavalca e quando annotta e quando aggiorna — He rides both when night falls and when day breaks.

Vittorio Alfieri, in his tragedies, also uses aggiornare impersonally, to express the hope that light and clarity will eventually return after darkness:

Aggiornerà frattanto — Day will come, in the meantime.

But it’s Pietro Bembo, the Renaissance poet, who uses the word metaphorically. In Sonnet LXXXV of his Rime, he uses aggiornare to describe a lover waiting for dawn to see his beloved again:

Il sol, che le mie notti aggiorna — The sun that brightens my nights.

It was this poetic sense that gave shape to my character, Fioravante: he is someone who navigates the modern world, bringing clarity, warmth, and gentle renewal to everyday life. His aggiornamento in the modern world is not driven by speed or progress, but by light.

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*To read the definition in Vocabolario Treccani, click here:

“Aggiornare.” Vocabolario Treccani, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/aggiornare/. Accessed [April 1, 2025].