Francesca Duranti (born 2 January 1935) is an Italian writer.

Personal life and education

She was born Francesca Rossi in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and received a law degree from the

University of Pisa The University of Pisa (, UniPi) is a public university, public research university in Pisa, Italy. Founded in 1343, it is one of the oldest universities in Europe. Together with Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced S ...

. She married Enrico Magnini in 1956; they had one child and separated in 1960. She married Massimo Duranti, they had one child and divorced in 1976.

Writing career

She began writing during the 1970s. Her first novel ''La bambina'' was published in 1976. In 1978, she published ''Piazza mia bella piazza'', followed by ''La casa sul lago della luna'', which received the

Bagutta Prize The Bagutta Prize is an Italian literary prize that is awarded annually to Italian writers. The prize originated among patrons of Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy ...

and the Premio Martina Franca, in 1984. In 1988, Duranti published ''Effetti personali'', which received the

Premio Campiello The ''Premio Campiello'' is an annual Italian literary prize. A jury of literary experts (''giuria di letterati'' in Italian) identifies books published during the year and, in a public hearing, selects five of those as finalists. These books ...

. Her work explores the interactions between life and art. Some early works are based on her own life experiences; for example, ''La bambina'' draws from her own childhood.

Selected works

* ''La bambina'' (1976), (''The Little Girl'', trans. Judith Woolf, 2010) * ''La casa sul lago della luna'' (1984) (''The House on Moon Lake'', trans. Stephen Sartarelli, 1986) * ''Lieto fine'' (1987) (''Happy Ending'', trans. Annapaola Cancogni, 2014) * ''Effetti personali'' (1988), (''Personal Effects'', trans. Stephen Sartarelli, 1993) * ''Sogni mancini'' (1996), received the

Rapallo Carige Prize The Rapallo Carige Prize (), renamed Rapallo Bper Banca Prize since 2022 (Premio Rapallo Bper Banca) is an Italian literary award, established in 1985 by the Municipality of Rapallo and the Carige Bank (''Banca Carige''). The award is intended to ...

(''Left-Handed Dreams'', trans. Nicoletta McGowan, 2012) * ''L’ultimo viaggio della canaria'' (2004), received the Rapallo Carige Prize

References

1935 births Living people Italian women novelists 20th-century Italian women writers Premio Campiello winners 21st-century Italian women lawyers 21st-century Italian lawyers 20th-century Italian lawyers 20th-century Italian women lawyers {{Italy-writer-stub