Alfonso Reyes Poetry reaches Italian Audience

At the opening of the 2026 Alfonsino Festival, an anthology of poems by Alfonso Reyes, *Ifigenia crudele e altre poesie*, translated by Italian scholar Emilio Coco, was presented.

It’s official: Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León has kicked off Festival Alfonsino 2026 by sharing Alfonso Reyes’ legacy with the entire university community and the general public.

On May 18, UANL President Santos Guzman Lopez cut the ribbon to open the exhibition La Italia de Reyes y Reyes al italiano, which led into the conference and book presentation of Ifigenia crudele e altre poesie, an anthology of poems by the Universal Regiomontano translated into Italian by Emilio Coco.

“We hope that this edition of the Alfonsino Festival will be a space for gathering, reflection, and the enjoyment of literature. May each activity bring us a little closer to the richness of our cultural heritage and the enduring relevance of Alfonso Reyes’s idea.”

Santos Guzmán López
UANL President

A Gift from the Old Continent

For his part, writer José Javier Villarreal noted that the Italian translation of a selection of Alfonso Reyes’s poetry makes for a perfect gift for the University and readers in general.

“Emilio Coco is a poet; that is very important to emphasize. And in addition to being a poet, he is a great connoisseur of poetry, especially Spanish-American and Spani , and so the fact that he is now presenting us with this edition confirms that this is not something improvised. How wonderful that this is the age of translation, and how wonderful that it is happening here in our Capilla Alfonsina,” noted the UANL Secretary of Outreach and Culture.

The presentation of *Ifigenia crudele e altre poesie* took place from three distinct perspectives. First, Villarreal Álvarez-Tostado shared some of the most important aspects of Alfonso Reyes’s role in Mexican history.

“In translating Alfonso Reyes’s poems, I have tried to stay as close as possible without betraying the content too much, striving to rediscover the spirit that had given life to the original text and with the hope that the reader might enjoy these poems as if they had been written in Italian from the start,” noted Coco.