When 26-year old Crito Di Volta is released after 10 years of psychiatric institutionalization, he develops and launches Mortarismo?a new socio-political, psycho-spiritual, artistic movement? with the aim of deinstitutionalizing, and eventually reconnecting with, all of humanity. Called a work of genius and a poem that exceeds Allen Ginsberg's Howl in both authenticity and intensity, di Saverio's epic Crito Di Volta is a strong pronouncement on civil rights, religion and art; and a daring revolt against the platitudes of contemporary Western society.

Marc di Saverio hails from Hamilton, Canada. His poems and translations have appeared in such outfits as Maisonneuve, CNQ, Hazlitt, Event, and The Fiddlehead. In Issue 92 of Canadian Notes and Queries, Di Saverio's Sanatorium Songs (2013) was hailed as "the greatest poetry debut from the past 25 years." In 2016 he received the City of Hamilton Arts Award for Best Emerging Writer. In 2017, his work was broadcasted on BBC Radio 3, his debut became a best seller in both Canada and the United States, and he published his first book of translations: Ship of Gold: The Essential Poems of Emile Nelligan (Vehicule Press). His epic poem, Crito di Volta, was released in 2020 to great acclaim.

Marc Saverio's profile page

• Short-listed, AICW Bressani Literary Prize

A hugely important and insightful work—an epic of our time, that has astute social import, as well as so much raw passion and emotion.

Nicole Grimaldi

Crito Di Volta is the astonishing prophecy of a turn in our direction, from present-day triviality and self-contempt to a new life of imaginative joy and the superb energy of peace, the one true energy. Marc di Saverio has somehow brought forth a culture-creating epic which at the same time is the imaginative biography of the suffering outcast of our time, of his family, his loved ones, and the world he loves, and also of what threatens these loves: our blind yet wilful self-defeat. A prophecy, an epic, but also a novel in verse (and prose! and pictures!), a gallery of portraits, a fountain of images. A powerful unity of purpose within a harmonized kaleidoscope of new forms, both free and structured. A completely original mastery of the art of poetry. A work of genius.

A.F. Moritz

On every page of Crito Di Volta, Marc di Saverio stands in the everlasting emergency present and sings with deep, authentic intensity and poetic force “the melody-lines of people’s veins”—and in so doing offers up an electrical, irrefutable masterpiece.

Russell Thornton

Exasperation, admiration, and intense curiosity--I ran the gamut from the initial onslaught of simile to a few lines later when I marveled over Di Saverio’s masterful wielding of poetic device to draw a subtle but crucial line between himself, the writer and Di Volta, the protagonist. One is always in control. The other, not so much. Both are compelling.

Hollay Ghadery, River Street Writing

Few are the poets who succeed in changing our perception of reality with their pansophy. Marc Di Saverio is one such poet. In his epic Crito di Volta, he has penned a work of unparalleled intellectual depth and poetic intensity, spanning the gamut of literature, philosophy, theology and science. Praised for its authentic poetic voice, Crito di Voltadefies tradition, all the while encompassing it.

Arc Poetry Magazine