The International Day of Translation is an annual occasion celebrated on September 30, coinciding with the feast of Saint Jerome, the well-known translator of the Bible, venerated as the patron of translators. This event was introduced by the FIT (International Federation of Translators) in 1953, but it was not until 1991 that FIT proposed the official institution of the International Translation Day.

5 Italian classics translated worldwide

1. Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia 
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri is a poem made up of 100 songs divided into three songs: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, in which Dante tells his journey into the otherworldly realms of sin (Hell), atonement (Purgatory) and salvation (Paradise).

2. Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi 
Renzo and Lucia are about to get married but a local squire, Don Rodrigo, infatuated with the woman, threatens the fearful Don Abbondio, pastor who should have joined them in marriage, and the union jumps. The two are forced to separate to escape the threats of Don Rodrigo and after various vicissitudes and meetings with dishonest characters (Nun of Monza and Unnamed) or benevolent (Brother Cristoforo), finally manage to reunite and celebrate the wedding.

3. Ugo Foscolo, Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis 
Jacopo Ortis is a young Venetian university student with deep democratic ideals. Disappointed by the sacrifice of his homeland (the cession of the Venetian Republic to Austria), he took refuge in the Euganean hills, where he began to read Plutarch, holding correspondence with his friend Lorenzo Alderani. Only occasionally, you allow yourself some exchange of ideas with the doctor of the country, the curate and a few other people.

4. Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno 
The protagonist of La coscienza di Zeno is Zeno Cosini, a rich Triestine who, in order to get rid of the habit of smoking, undergoes a psychoanalytic treatment that consists in writing his life.

5. Elsa Morante, L’isola di Arturo 
After his mother’s death, Arturo lives alone on the island of Procida, reading stories of great leaders while imagining his father as an explorer. The situation changes with the return of his father to the island in the company of his new wife, a young woman whom Arthur falls in love with.