Betti, Ugo [key], 1892–1953, Italian dramatist and poet. He was a judge by profession. His earliest published works were two volumes of poetry (1922 and 1932), but he is remembered for his dramas. He wrote 27 plays. Among the most notable were La padrona [the mistress] (1927), Frano allo scalo nord [landslide at the north station] (1936), Il cacciatore di anitre [the duck hunter] (1940), Il diluvio [the flood] (1943), and Delitto all'isola delle capre [crime on goat island] (1950). Betti's outlook was predominantly pessimistic, concerned with man's moral responsibility, guilt, and forgiveness.
See translations of his most important plays by H. Reed (1958), G. H. McWilliam (1964), and G. Rizzo (1966).
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