“They Were Fated to Meet”

Abstract The fact that the renowned Italian writer Giuseppe Ungaretti imitated—or rather, appropriated—some of James Joyce’s poems for one of his late collections has been known since the 1980s, yet details of the relationship between the two authors have remained largely uncharted territory. This essay contextualizes Ungaretti’s poetic theft within the broader framework of shared affinities with Joyce, particularly their mutual engagement with the works of Dante Alighieri and Giambattista Vico.