Marco Munaro (b. 1960, Castelmassa) is an Italian poet and teacher based in Rovigo. Since 1990, he has published numerous poetry collections, with his most recent being Time Hidden in Time. Poems 1983–2021 (2021). His upcoming book is titled Figures from a Low Relief.
Since 2003, Munaro has led the poetry publisher and association Il ponte del sale, which has released a significant body of high-quality poetry. He has received several literary awards, including the Leonardo Sinisgalli Prize, the Laura Nobile Prize, and the Catullo Prize for his contributions to international poetry. His poems have been translated into Spanish, Polish, Finnish, English, and Arabic. A Finnish selection of his work, The Open Pomegranate, was published in 2019 (translated by Jouni Inkala).
Munaro’s poetry is deeply rooted in landscape, light, and nature, but also in the emotional and sensory dimensions of human life—love, loss, pain, and the mysterious force of growth. His poems draw from myth and cultural heritage, using legends and stories as a foundation that contemporary poetry listens to, transforms, and keeps alive.
His work fulfills poetry’s essential promise: it is emotionally intense, rich in atmosphere, and open to multiple interpretations. In a world that often moves too fast and sees things in black and white, Munaro’s poetry offers a vital space for reflection. Many of his poems are like small expeditions—journeys that can be begun again and again.
In Italian poetry, logic often begins where other forms of communication have reached their limits. That is the moment for poetry. Munaro’s poems inherit the clarity and focus of classicism, yet radiate outward from a single point into something mysteriously new. It’s no coincidence that one of his poems is titled The Open Pomegranate—a perfect metaphor for a poetry collection: inviting either to be devoured or savored slowly. Just like poetry itself.