Author of the well-known novel “The Garden of the Finzi Contini” is today one of the most loved authors of the last century. Let’s discover the history of the Italian writer.
Who was Giorgio Bassani
Giorgio Bassani (Bologna, March 4, 1916 – Rome, April 13, 2000) was an Italian writer and politician.
He grows up in Ferrara with his family who allows him one comfortable life and dictated by the teachings of Jewish religion.
During the compulsory school years it shows interest in literature and then enrolled in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Bologna.
He barely manages to finish his schooling, which for many other Jews cannot even begin due to the racial laws of 1938.
The beginning of a career in literature
Completed the scholastic path publishes his first novel under a false name in 1940 entitled “A city in the plain”. At the same time teaches history and Italian in the Jewish school which collects Jews expelled from public schools.
He therefore demonstrates his dissent through literature andpolitical activism which also lead him to be locked up for a few months in prison. Once back to real life, he starts publishing his works again and also writing for some magazines including “Paragone” alongside Pier Paolo Pasolini.
The consolidated success and the Premio Strega
In the 1950s, his political activity became more and more alive with the foundation of the “Italia Nostra” association. It becomes in the meantime also professor of theater history at the National Academy of Dramatic Art e wins the Strega Award with “Five stories from Ferrara”.
In this period of great success it is also editorial director of Feltrinelli and manages to have some fundamental works by Italian and foreign authors published. He also continues to collaborate as a screenwriter with directors of the caliber of Luchino Visconti and Vittorio De Sica.
Crown its moment of maximum splendor with the publication of the Bildungsroman “Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini” which presents itself as a memory of his experience as a bourgeois Jew in Fascist Ferrara.