THE COMPLETE DICTIONARY OF THE ITALIAN LANGUAGE
(Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana – A series in XXI volumes directed by Salvatore Battaglia)

A dictionary should not be an arid list of words, but a demonstration of a language’s richness and vitality, tracing the evolution of terms by examining and citing the works that are the voice of the civilisation they represent.
The Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana, founded by Salvatore Battaglia, is the only dictionary which preserves the integrity and authenticity of the language integrity and authenticity. It defines the words fully and articulately, and provides numerous exam-ples. It reconstructs the history of meanings, giving examples from the enormous library of literary, historical and scientific texts to be found in our language. The Dizionario also describes spoken and archaic terms, the words of poetry and of the new sciences.
Battaglia’s work constitutes both a history and an anthology, making it not only an invaluable reference work, but also a pleasure to read.
It is also something of a cultural and publishing achievement founded on high critical and scientific standards, tasteful style and literary elegance. There is no doubt that the Dizionario represents one of the most important publications of Italian and European culture of the Twentieth Century.
Its merits include precision in the definitions, an enormous wealth of quotations, and attention to etymology. It also pays particular attention to linguistic development and evolution in response to the demand for a constant update.
Even today, under the direction of Giorgio Bárberi Squarotti, UTET’s lexicographical editing team continues to develop the work started by Salvatore Battaglia.