Corto Maltese, Counterculture Hero: A Unifying Figure for Francesco Guccini and Fabrizio De André’s Revolutionary Visions

Abstract Hugo Pratt's late-1960s comic Ballad of the Salt Sea saw the creation of the sailor-pirate Corto Maltese, a new sort of hero for a new generation. This article examines the heroism of Corto, as it is, at once, idealist and utopian and, at the same time, cynical and anarchical. It reads Ballad of the Salt Sea in conversation with songs by two contemporary voices of the counterculture in Italy: Francesco Guccini and Fabrizio De André. The article looks at how the cantautori's musical releases between the late 1960s and early 1970s promote a sociopolitical line of thought that is very much in line with Corto's own and thus how, when read together, Pratt's, Guccini's, and De André’s cultural productions help elucidate the complex nature of the revolutionary generation in Italy.