Ofelia Giudicissi Curci

Ofelia Giudicissi Curci (11 May 1934 – 13 September 1981) was an Italian poet, painter and archeologist. She was an advocate of the Albanian linguistic dialect Arbëresh, although her poetry was written in Italian. Momenti di un profilo meridionale, a collection of her poems, was published posthumously by her husband and son in 1996. Curci also worked in archeology, studying the region around Pallagorio.

Life Ofelia Giudicissi Curci was an Arbëresh from Pallagorio, a settlement near Crotone, in Calabria, southern Italy. She was born on 11 May 1934. Her father Carmine Giudicissi was a schoolteacher, and she was the seventh of ten children. Curci married Antonio Curci in 1959 and the couple had two sons. She wrote her poetry in Italian but was an advocate of the Arbëresh linguistic variety. A literary prize was established in Curci's name in 2011. In 2021 her sons published her complete works under the title Ofelia, Poesie. Curci is buried in the cemetery at Pallagrio, with the poem Ballata di novembre engraved on her tomb.