Antonio Porta (pen-name of Leo Paolazzi) was an Italian author and poet and one of the founders of the Italian literary movement Gruppo 63.

Biography

Antonio Porta was born Leo Paolazzi in Vicenza in 1935. In 1958, he became an editor of the literary magazine '' Il Verri'' under Luciano Anceschi. During his time as an editor, he wrote a collection of poems to be included in the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

''I novissimi'' (1961), which included works by Elio Pagliarani, Edoardo Sanguineti, Alfredo Giuliani, and

Nanni Balestrini Nanni Balestrini (2 July 1935 – 19 May 2019) was an Italian experimental poet, author and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia movement. Context Nanni Balestrini is associated with the Italian writers' movement Neoavanguardia. He wrote fo ...

Gruppo 63

From his experience with ''Il verri'', Porta began collaborating with an

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

Italian movement called ''Gruppo 63''. While working to develop their ideas, he travelled to the conventions they held in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

, " La Sapienza", and

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

. From 1963 to 1967, Porta was actively involved in the editing of another avant-garde magazine ''Malebolge'' from Reggio Emilia. In these years he also began working in visual poetry, participating in exhibitions in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

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, and

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. His work which is most associated with this period is ''Zero'' (1963).

Later career

He contributed as a literary critic for renowned Italian newspapers such as '' Corriere della Sera'' and '' Il Giorno'' and collaborated on '' Tuttolibri'', ''Panorama'', and '' L'Europeo''. He was the director and active editor of the monthly '' Alfabeta'' and '' La Gola''. From 1982 to 1988, he taught at the D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara, then at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

, the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia (, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; ) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest un ...

, the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

, and the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

Bibliography

* ''Calendario'', Schwartz, Milan, 1956, under the pen name Leo Paolazzi * ''La palpebra rovesciata'', Azimuth, Milan, 1960 * ''I novissimi'', il verri edition, Milan, 1961 * ''Zero'', numbered edition, in proprio, Milan, 1963 * ''Aprire'', poems, All'Insegna del Pesce d'Oro, Milan, 1964 * ''I rapporti'', poems, Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1966 * ''Partita'', novel, Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1967 * ''Cara'', poems, Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1969 * ''Metropolis'', poems, Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1971 (finalist for the Viareggio Prize) * ''Week-end'', poems, Cooperativa Scrittori Editrice, Rome 1974 * ''La presa di potere di Ivan lo sciocco'', play, Einaudi Editore, Turin, 1974 * ''Quanto ho da dirvi'', collection of all his poetry from 1958 to 1975, Feltrinelli Editore, Milano, 1977 * ''Il re del magazzino'', novel, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1978 * ''Pin Pidìn'', poems of today for kids (with Giovanni Raboni), Feltrinelli Editore, Milan, 1978 * ''Passi Passaggi'', poems, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1980 (winner of the " Val di Comino" award, finalist for the D'Annunzio Prize) * ''Se fosse tutto un tradimento'', short story, Guanda Editore, Milan, 1981 * ''L'aria della fine'', poems, Lunarionuovo, Catania, 1982 (winner of Gandovere Prize – Franciacorta) * ''Emilio'', small poems for children, Emme Edizioni, Milan, 1982 * ''La poesia che dice no'',

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

for TV ( RAI,

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

, directed by Gianni Jannelli), La Spezia, 1983 * ''Invasioni'', poems, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1984 (winner of the Viareggio Prize, and Città di Latina Prize) * ''Nel fare poesia'', anthologia with an introduction on his method of writing, Sansoni, Florence, 1985 * ''La stangata persiana'', play, Corpo 10, Milan, 1985 * ''La festa del cavallo'', play, Corpo 10, Milan, 1986 * ''Melusina, una ballata e diario'', Crocetti Editore, Milan, 1987 * ''Il giardiniere contro il becchino'', Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1988 (winner of the Carducci Prize, the Acireale Prize, and the Stefanile Prize) * ''Partorire in chiesa'', short story, Libri Scheiwiller, Milan, 1990 * ''Il Progetto Infinito'', edited by Giovanni Raboni, Quaderni Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rome, 1991 (distributed by Garzanti) * ''V Canto dell'inferno'', edited by Daniele Oppi, Raccolto, Robecchetto con Induno (MI), 1991 with an artwork of Gianfranco Baruchello * ''Los(t) angeles'', unedited novel, Vallecchi Editore, Florence, 1996 * ''Poesie 1956-1988'' edited by Niva Lorenzini, Oscar Mondadori, Milan, 1998 * ''Yellow'', unedited poems, edited by Niva Lorenzini, Mondadori, Milan, 2002 * ''Tutte le poesie'', edited by Niva Lorenzini, Garzanti, Milan, 2009 * ''La scomparsa del corpo'', collection of all his short novels, Manni Editori, Lecce, 2010 * ''Piercing the Page: Selected Poems 1958-1989'', ''e''dited with an introduction by Gian Maria Annovi and an essay by

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

, Otis – Seismicity, Los Angeles, 2012

External links

* Comune (municipality) of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

information for a convention on Antonio Port
Video clip of the poem ''Devo finire un sogno'' su videopoesia - http://vimeo.com/1143854
*Piercing the Pag

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porta, Antonio 1935 births 1989 deaths Italian dramatists and playwrights Italian male poets People from Vicenza Gruppo 63 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights Italian male dramatists and playwrights Academic staff of the D'Annunzio University of Chieti–Pescara Yale University faculty Academic staff of the University of Pavia Academic staff of the Sapienza University of Rome Academic staff of the University of Bologna 20th-century Italian male writers