Corrado Alvaro (15 April 1895 – 11 June 1956) was an Italian journalist and writer of novels, short stories, screenplays and plays. He often used the '' verismo'' style to describe the hopeless poverty in his native

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

. His first success was ''Gente in Aspromonte'' (Revolt in Aspromonte), which examined the exploitation of rural peasants by greedy landowners in Calabria, and is considered by many critics to be his masterpiece.

Biography

He was born in San Luca, a small village in the southernmost region of Calabria. His father Antonio was a primary school teacher and founded an evening school for farmers and illiterate shepherds. Alvaro was educated at

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

boarding schools in Rome and Umbria. He graduated with a degree in literature in 1919 at the

University of Milan The University of Milan (; ), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale ("the State niversity), is a public university, public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Eu ...

and began working as a journalist and literary critic for two daily newspapers, ''Il Resto di Carlino'' 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 ...

and the ''

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

'' of

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. He served as an officer in the Italian army during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After being wounded in both arms, he spent a long time in military hospitals. After the war, he worked as a correspondent in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(France) for the anti-Fascist paper Il Mondo of

Giovanni Amendola Giovanni Amendola (15 April 1882 – 7 April 1926) was an Italian journalist, professor, and politician. He is noted as an opponent of Italian fascism. Biography Early life and education Amendola was born in Naples on 15 April 1882. He moved t ...

. In 1925, he supported the Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals written by the philosopher

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce, ( , ; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography, and aesthetics. A Cultural liberalism, poli ...

. In 1926 he published his first novel ''L'uomo nel labirinto'' (Man in the Labyrinth), which explored the growth of

Fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...

in Italy in the 1920s. A staunch democrat with strong anti-Fascist views, Alvaro's politics made him the target of surveillance of

Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his overthrow in 194 ...

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

regime. He was forced to leave Italy and during the 1930s he travelled widely in western Europe, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Journeys he later recounted in his travel essays. ''L'uomo è forte'' (1938; Man Is Strong), written after a trip to the Soviet Union, is a defence of the individual against the oppression of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a political system and a form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely controls the public s ...

. After World War II Alvaro returned to Italy. He again worked for prominent daily newspapers as a special correspondent, theatre and film critic, and editor. He was elected secretary of the Italian Association of Writers in 1947, a post he held until his death in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1956. He is buried in Vallerano.

Literary career

Initially, Alvaro's literary efforts did not enjoy great success. Critics praised his first novel ''L'uomo nel labirinto'' (Man in the Labyrinth) for its portrayal of alienation of individuals and society as a whole. His subsequent works, ''L'amata alla finestra'', ''Gente in Aspromonte'', ''La signora dell'isola'', and ''Vent'anni'' established him as an important writer. A jury that included the noted Italian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

awarded him a prize of 50,000 lire given by the newspaper ''

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

'' in 1931 for ''Gente in Aspromonte''. In 1951 he won the

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( ) is the most important Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published between 1 March of t ...

(Premio Strega) – Italy's most prestigious literary award – for his novel ''Quasi una vita''. Alvaro is noted for his realistic, epic depictions of the Italian poor. His later work portrayed the contrasts between a yearning for the simple,

pastoral The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target au ...

way of life, and the aspiration to achieve material success that attracts people to the city. He died in

. He was one of the first authors to mention the

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a mafia-type organized crime, criminal syndicate originating from the Calabria region of Italy. Gratteri & Nicaso, ''Fratelli di Sangue'', pp. 65–68 This body, also referred to as the Commission in reference to the ...

– the

mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

-style criminal association in his native Calabria – in several short stories and in an article published in the ''Corriere della Sera'' in 1955.The pentiti's contribution to conceptualization of the mafia phenomenon
by Letizia Paoli, in The New European Criminology (Vincenzo Ruggiero, Nigel South, Ian R. Taylor eds., Routledge, 1998 ), p. 272

Works

* ''Polsi, nell'arte, nella leggenda, e nella storia'' (1912) * ''Poesie grigioverdi'' (1917) * ''La siepe e l'orto'' (1920) * ''L'uomo del labirinto'' (1926) * ''L'amata alla finestra'' (1929) * ''Vent'anni'' (1930) * ''Gente in Aspromonte'' (''Revolt in Aspromonte'', 1930. Won the prize of the newspaper ''

'' in 1931) * ''La signora dell'isola; racconti'' (1931) * ''Maestri del diluvio; viaggio nella Russia sovietica'' (1935) * ''L'uomo è forte'' (''Man Is Strong'', 1938. Won the literature prize of the

Accademia d'Italia The Royal Academy of Italy () was a short-lived Italian academy of the Italian Fascism, Fascist period. It was created on 7 January 1926 by royal decree,See reference . but was not inaugurated until 28 October 1929. It was effectively dissolved in ...

in 1940) * ''Incontri d'amore'' (1940) * ''Viaggio in Russia'' (1943) * ''L'età breve'' (1946; first novel in the series ''Memorie del mondo sommerso'') * ''Lunga notte di Medea, tragedia in due tempi'' (1949) * ''Quasi una vita. Giornale di uno scrittore'' (1950. Winner of

1951) * ''Il nostro tempo e la speranza. Saggi di vita contemporanea'' (1952) * ''Un fatto di cronaca. Settantacinque racconti'' (1955) * ''Colore di Berlino. Viaggio in Germania'' (2001)

Selected filmography

* '' Adam's Tree'' (1936) * '' A Woman Between Two Worlds'' (1936) * '' No Man's Land'' (1939) * '' Carmela'' (1942) * '' Headlights in the Fog'' (1942) * ''

Fever Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...

'' (1943) * ''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...

'' (1944) * '' Pact with the Devil'' (1950) * '' Women Without Names'' (1950)

References

*
Biografia di Corrado Alvaro (1895 - 1956)
at Rai International
Corrado Alvaro 1896-1956
at enotes.com *
Fondazione Corrado Alvaro

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvaro, Corrado 1895 births 1956 deaths People from San Luca Italian male journalists 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers Italian anti-fascists Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals University of Milan alumni Strega Prize winners 20th-century Italian journalists Italian military personnel of World War I