When 27-year-old Daniele Speziale steps onto a Kolkata stage and begins a couplet in Urdu, the first reaction from the crowd is disbelief, followed by delight. Known in poetry circles as ‘Rahi Italvi’, the young Italian, who works in the city’s visa application centre, has become one of Kolkata’s most unexpected voices in Urdu ghazals. Nearly a year into his stay, he writes poetry, performs at mushairas and even chats with his audience in Bengali.
Early years and how languages found him
Daniele enjoys both the ornate, curated mehfils and the intimate neighbourhood mushairas hosted in homes or local associations
Daniele was born in Grenchen, Switzerland, in 1998 to Italian migrant parents. His childhood unfolded in Savona, a coastal town in northern Italy. But, by his teens, he longed to see more of the world. “Perhaps because of the limits of small-town life, I was keen to move out and explore,” he said.
A turning point came at age 17 during a high-school exchange year in Malaysia. His host family was Malaysian Indian, and Bollywood songs flowed through daily life. “That was my first exposure to Hindi, Urdu and other Indian languages. I didn’t understand the words then, but the sound stayed with me,” he recalled.
The real learning began in 2020. Stuck under lockdown, he found himself with an Urdu grammar textbook and a borrowed copy of A Thousand Yearnings. “Reading Urdu poetry added flavour to the dryness of grammar rules. What began as simple language practice became a real love.”
Becoming ‘Rahi Italvi’
As he immersed himself in ghazals, writing came naturally. “I decided to try my hand at composing poems myself,” he said. That was the birth of his poetic identity: ‘Rahi Italvi’, the Italian wanderer.
For years, he could only perform online from Europe, but he knew something was missing. “In the world of Urdu, reciting to a screen doesn’t work. When you tell the first line of a sher, the audience waits for the second. You hope for either a ‘wah’ or an ‘ah’. Ghazals are social. They need people,” Daniele said.
His India tour in 2024 finally changed that, giving him audiences in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. By January 2025 he had moved to Kolkata, where he now performs at events big and small.
The ‘mushaira’ spaces of Kolkata
Daniele enjoys both the ornate, curated mehfils and the intimate neighbourhood mushairas hosted in homes or local associations. But it is the latter that stays with him.
He remembers performing in Belgachia on a simple open-air platform. “The area was visibly poorer, but the warmth was unmatched. Some local youths recognised me from my videos. That was more heartening than higher-profile events,” he said.
Quoting Sahir Ludhianvi, he adeds, “‘Fann jo naadaar tak nahi pahuncha, apni meyyaar tak nahin pahuncha’. Art that doesn’t reach the poor hasn’t reached its true potential.”
Kolkata: A love poem and a lament
For Daniele, Kolkata is a city full of contradictions. “You could write her both a love poem and a lament,” he explained. He loves the city’s slow pace, the adda, the old-world temperament. Changing these, he feels, “would be like taking away from her beauty”.
Yet he mourns what the city is losing. “So many heritage buildings are being replaced by soulless flats. Creative young people no longer find the ambience that once allowed great minds to thrive.”
He hopes to eventually write a long poem for his adopted city. Until then, he leans on Ghalib’s lines: “Kalkatte ka jo zikr kiya tu ne hamnasheen… ek teer mere seene mein maaraa ke haaye haaye”.