Fabrizia Ramondino (1936–2008) was an Italian author who has many works "which includes and crosses the boundaries between poetry, novels, plays, travelogues, memoirs, confession, self-reflection, anthropological, cultural and linguistic comment" according to Adalgisa Giorgio, who has conducted research of Ramondino's life and works.
[Giorgio]
Ramondino's life
Fabrizia Ramondino was born in
Naples
Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
in 1936 and moved to the island of
Majorca
Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...
that same year
after her father was named Italian consul.
[ She was raised on this small Spanish island until she was eight years old.][Marotti, p. 175.] For the rest of her life, she lived in different countries, including France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
. Her travels also took her to China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and the Sahara
The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...
.[Giorgio] Ramondino spent many years in Naples which is the culture she relates to most in her writing. During her time in Naples, Ramondino volunteered as a teacher at the Associazione Risveglio Napoli school. She obtained a degree in languages at Naples Eastern University
Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...
. She also worked as a French teacher at multiple state schools. She was a political and social activist for Centro di Coordinamento Campano, "a small organisation of the new left which worked primarily with the urban unemployed and poor agricultural labourers".Itri
Itri is a small city and ''comune'' the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy.
Itri is an agricultural centre divided in two parts by a small river, the Pontone. It lies in a valley between the Monti Aurunci and the sea, not far from the Gul ...
after the earthquake in 1980.[
In 1981, she published her first novel ''Althénopis''. During the 1808s, she was a journalist for '']Il Mattino
''Il Mattino'' (English: "The Morning") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Naples, Italy.
History and profile
''Il Mattino'' was first published on 16 March 1892 by the journalists Edoardo Scarfoglio and Matilde Serao. Since 1999, the ...
'' and other newspapers. Ramondino worked with Mario Martone
Mario Martone (born 20 November 1959) is an Italian filmmaker. He has directed more than 30 films since 1985. His films have been shown in prestigious international film festivals over the world.
His films '' Nasty Love'' (1995) and ''Nostalgia ...
on the 1992 film '' Morte di un matematico napoletano''. Again with Martone, she wrote the 1994 play ''Terremoto con madre e figlia''.[
Ramondino was a finalist for the ]Grinzane Cavour Prize
The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1982–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to re ...
in 1999 for ''L’isola riflessa''. She was awarded the Flaiano literary prize in 2000 and received the Pasolini Poetry Award for ''Per un sentiero chiaro'' in 2004.[
She died in ]Gaeta
Gaeta (; ; Southern Latian dialect, Southern Laziale: ''Gaieta'') is a seaside resort in the province of Latina in Lazio, Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is from Rome and from Naples.
The city has played ...
at the age of 71.[
]
Ramondino's writing
Ramondino is an author known to relate all of her writing to her experiences. Naples is the main culture that Ramondino absorbs into her writing. Not only does she have the setting of her novels and stories in Naples, but she "placed erselfin the position of partial outsider(s) to the culture and languages".[Marotti, p. 174.] By doing so, she sets her work apart and allows herself to observe the "mores of the middle and upper bourgeoisie, with the class consciousness of a materialist" [Marotti, p. 174.] and making her "an exile in her own homeland".[Riva, p. 101.] This perspective that she has in her writing is demonstrated as she approaches the Neapolitan language and also as an outsider. Ramondino "only occasionally inserts words of Neapolitan origin" into her work.[Marotti, p. 175.] She also often uses footnotes to help one understand these words. Ramondino wraps her audience in this sense of looking in from the outside of culture in her readings. She intertwines them flawlessly into the culture of the cities her stories are set in.[Marotti, p. 174.]
Selected works
Her works include:
References
Bibliography
Giorgio, Adalgisa. "Fabrizia Ramondino." Home. Institute of Modern Languages Research, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
* Marotti, Maria O. Italian Women Writers from the Renaissance to the Present: Revising the Canon. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. Print.
* Riva, Massimo. Italian Tales: An Anthology of Contemporary Italian Fiction. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.
Further reading
* Scarparo, Susanna, and Rita Wilson. Across Genres, Generations and Borders: Italian Women Writing Lives. Newark, el.: University of Delaware Press, 2004. Print.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramondino, Giulia
1936 births
2008 deaths">1936 births">el.: University of Delaware Press, 2004. Print.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramondino, Giulia
1936 births
2008 deaths
Italian women novelists
20th-century Italian women writers
Writers from Naples
20th-century Italian novelists