Ivano Fermini (1948-2004) was born in San Paolo, a small village near Bolzano in theAlpines. Most of his adult life he lived with his sister in a flat in a working-class area of SanSiro in Milan. He suffered from recurring bouts of mental illness. Towards the end of the1970s he joined the 'Niebo' group, which centred around the poet Milo De Angelis, andincluded Emi Rabuffetti, Antonio Mungai, Alberto Schieppati, Giancarlo Pontiggia, CesareLievi, Marta Bertamini and Roberto Mussapi. The Niebo magazine, founded by De Angelis, ran to nine issues from 1977 to 1980, and published work inspired by visionary poets, such asWilliam Blake, Gérard de Neval, and Arthur Rimbaud. Fermini himself was especially drawnto the work of Paul Celan. He would go onto publish two collections, Bianco allontanato(Banished White), 1985, and Nati incendio (Fire Births), 1990. Both these collections arenow long out of print. He remains relatively unknown, both inside and outside Italy.