In literary English — and in texts that can somehow be associated to it, like formal speeches, there are frequent examples of the fronting of elements that are not part of the syntactic subject:
(40) Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burnèd is Apollo's laurel-bough...
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, epilogue
(compare: the branch... is cut; Apollo's laurel-bough is burned)
(41) Bright and pleasant was the sky, balmy the air, and beautiful the appearance of every object around, as Mr Pickwick leant over the balustrades of Rochester Bridge, contemplating nature, and waiting for breakfast. [...]
On the left of the spectator lay the ruined wall [...]
Dickens, Pickwick
(compare: the sky was bright and pleasant; the air [was] balmy; the appearance... [was] beautiful; the ruined wall lay on the left...)
(42) Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty
(Wordsworth, Upon Westminster Bridge)
(compare: He would be dull of soul...)
(43) Of human habitants there are none, and none are seen, with the occasional exception of a wild-fowler or native oyster-fishermen, who still ply a trade already ancient when the Normans came to Hastings.
Greys and blues and soft greens are the colours [...]
Gallico, The Snow Goose
(compare: there are no human inhabitants; the colours are greys...)
If we go further back in time, we find sentences that diverge even more from present-day syntactic norms and show a degree of freedom not unlike Italian; the influence of Latin as the language of learning seems obvious:
(44) ... most pleasant it is at first, to such as are melancholy given, to lie in bed whole days, ...(Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, 1621)
(45) Now give me my spear, said Arthur unto Sir Lucan, for yonder I have espied the traitor that all this woe hath wrought. [...] The King... ran toward Sir Mordred, crying, Traitor, now is thy death day come. (Malory, Morte d'Arthur, circa 1470)
These variations are less frequent in contemporary English — in particular they are rare in argumentative texts and in ESP — but they can still be found, particularly in everyday conversation. See the following examples, quoted by English and American linguists:
(46) I know her, and a very fine person she is.
(47) Your excuses I can do without!
(48) The black bag I want, but not the brown one.
(49) Relaxation you call it!
(50) Her father he has known for three years.
(51a) His face I'm not fond of...
(51b) ... but his character I despise.
The global meaning of these sentences and the exclamation marks in the written text reveal that they occur in emotionally loaded situations, or that they imply some form of contrast.
An example of inversion to express surprise, found in journalistic prose, is:
(52) I'm in Paris; my bank is closed but outside sits an automated teller machine. I insert my ATM card from my bank in Washington, D. C. [...] Then it's back to Detroit, to Belgium, and to the Paris bank and its ATM - and out comes $300 in French francs. Total elapsed times: 16 seconds.(10)
"out comes $300" would correspond to "ecco che escono i 300 dollari!" and reminds one of orders like "Out you go!" (Fuori di qui!) or the children's song, Pop! goes the weasel. The same passage provides another example of subject postponement: "outside sits an ATM".