Giani Stuparich (April 4, 1891 – April 7, 1961) was an Italian writer. He was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, then in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In 1948 he won a gold medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "La Grotta" ("The Cave").

Biography

Giani Stuparich was born in Trieste on April 4, 1891 to a family of Jewish origins. He studied briefly at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

in Prague (1913), then moved to

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, where he took a degree in literature (1915), and befriended Scipio Slataper. After university, he began to write for the literary magazine '' La Voce''. He and his brother Carlo Stuparich were volunteers in

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 ...

. He later published a terse

war diary A war diary is a regularly updated official record kept by Military organization, military units of their activities during wartime. The purpose of these diaries is to both record information which can later be used by the military to improve its ...

, ''Guerra del '15'' (1931), and a choral novel, ''Ritorneranno'' (1941), based on his experiences. A

schoolteacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

for many years, he was opposed to

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 ...

and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was arrested and deported for his presumed

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Works

As well as auto-biographical memoirs, notably ''Trieste nei miei ricordi'' (1948), Stuparich wrote stories and short novels, one of the most successful being ''L'isola'' (1942), which focuses on a tragic father-son relationship. ''Simone'' (1953), his last novel, is a highly literary foray into

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

References

External links

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Giani Stuparich at databaseOlympics.com
1891 births 1961 deaths Italian male writers Olympic gold medalists in art competitions Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Art competitors at the 1948 Summer Olympics {{Italy-writer-stub