Abele Rizieri Ferrari (May 12, 1890 – November 29, 1922), better known by the pen name Renzo Novatore, was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

individualist anarchist Individualist anarchism or anarcho-individualism is a collection of anarchist currents that generally emphasize the individual and their will over external determinants such as groups, society, traditions, and ideological systems. Individuali ...

, illegalist and

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

poet, philosopher and militant, now mostly known for his posthumously published book ''Toward the Creative Nothing'' (''Verso il nulla creatore'') and associated with ultra-modernist trends of

futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

. His thought was influenced by

Max Stirner Johann Kaspar Schmidt (; 25 October 1806 – 26 June 1856), known professionally as Max Stirner (; ), was a German post-Hegelian philosopher, dealing mainly with the Hegelian notion of social alienation and self-consciousness. Stirner is oft ...

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

, Georges Palante,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...

and

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

Biography

Background

Abele Ricieri Ferrari was born in Arcola,

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

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 ...

on May 12, 1890, in a poor peasant family. He did not adjust to school discipline and quit in the first year, never coming back after that.Novatore: a biography (new corrected version, thanks to Penwan)
While he worked in his father's farm, he self-educated with an emphasis on poetry and philosophy. Around his town, he was surrounded by a vibrant anarchist scene, which he started to come close to.

Writing and action

He discovered

Errico Malatesta Errico Malatesta (4 December 1853 – 22 July 1932) was an Italian anarchist propagandist, theorist and revolutionary socialist. He edited several radical newspapers and spent much of his life exiled and imprisoned, having been jailed and expel ...

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

, and

, whom Novatore often quoted. From 1908 on, he embraced individualist anarchism. In 1910, he was charged with the burning of a local church and spent three months in prison, but his participation in the fire was never proven. A year later, he went on the run for several months because the police wanted him for theft and robbery. On September 30, 1911, the police arrested him for vandalism. He justified

refusal of work Refusal of work is behavior in which a person refuses regular employment."Refusal of work means quite simply: I don't want to go to work because I prefer to sleep. But this laziness is the source of intelligence, of technology, of progress. Autono ...

and he thought, in his personal philosophy of life, that he had the right to expropriate from the rich what he needed for his daily survival, and using force wasn't a problem for him. In 1914, he began to write for anarchist papers. He was drafted in 1912 but quickly discharged for unknown causes. As the

Great War 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 ...

approached he deserted his regiment on April 26, 1918, and was sentenced to death by a military tribunal for desertion and high treason on October 31. He left his village and fled, propagating the desertion from the Army and the armed uprising against the state. Novatore was married with two children at the time and when his younger son died in the last months of 1918, Novatore came back to his home, risking arrest only to give him a last goodbye. He was involved in an anarcho-

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

collective in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

which he led (along with Auro d'Arcola) to be active in the militant anti-fascist '' Arditi del Popolo''. He was close friends with Enzo Martucci and Bruno Filippi. Renzo Novatore wrote for many anarchist papers (''Cronaca Libertaria, Il Libertario, Iconoclastal, Gli Scamiciati, Nichilismo, Pagine Libere'') where he debated with other anarchists (among them Camillo Berneri). He published a magazine, ''Vertice'', which has been lost apart from few articles. Novatore collaborated in the individualist anarchist journal ''Iconoclasta!'' alongside the young Stirnerist illegalist Bruno Filippi.''The rebel's dark laughter: the writings of Bruno Filippi''
/ref>

Death

In May 1919, the city of La Spezia fell under control of a self-proclaimed Revolutionary Committee, and he fought alongside it. On June 30, 1919, Novatore was hidden in a hut in the country near the city of Sarzana. A farmer told the police about him, and he was sentenced to ten years in prison, but was released in a general amnesty a few months later. By the early 1920s, Italy was about to be taken over by fascism. He decided to go underground and in 1922 he joined the gang of the famous robber of anarchist inspiration Sante Pollastri. He was killed in an ambush by ''

carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...

'' in Teglia, near

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 ...

, on November 29, 1922, while with Pollastro, but Pollastro managed to escape. On Novatore's body the detectives found some false documents, a Browning gun with two full magazines, one hand grenade and a ring with a secret container filled with a lethal dose of

cyanide In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...

Influence

The notorious Italo-Argentinian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni dedicated a poem to Novatore shortly after knowing about his death. Later he will establish the "Anarcho-individualist Group Renzo Novatore" which enters the “Italian Anti-fascist Alliance” in Argentina.Severino di Giovanni: el Idealista de la Violencia
by Osvaldo Bayer Renzo Novatore has received attention recently in post-left anarchy and

insurrectionary anarchism Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory and tendency within the anarchist movement that emphasizes insurrection as a revolutionary practice. It is critical of formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based on ...

as can be seen in the writings of Wolfi Landstreicher. In his introduction to "Towards the Creative nothing" by Renzo Novatore, Landstreicher writes "It is difficult to find anarchist works in English that are at the same time "individualist" and explicitly revolutionary, that emphasize the centrality of the aim of individual self-determination to a revolution that will "communalize material wealth" as it will "individualize spiritual wealth". For this and other reasons, I chose to translate Toward the Creative Nothing by Renzo Novatore and publish several of his shorter pieces." In an article called "Whither now? Some thoughts on creating anarchy" Wolfi Landstreicher writing as Feral Faun says "Then we can cease to be merely on the margins of society and will each, as unique wild beings, become the center of an insurrectionary project that may destroy civilization and create a world in which we freely live, relate and create as our unique desires move us. We will become – to quote Renzo Novatore again – "a shadow eclipsing any form of society which can exist under the sun.""Whither now? Some thoughts on creating anarchy" by Feral Faun
/ref>

Bibliography

* (The Anarchist Library) *

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
NovAtore.it Sito dedicato alla memoria di Renzo Novatore
mostly in Italian with a small section in English and includes many of Novatore's works in English

* ttps://www.scribd.com/doc/13848931/Renzo-Novatore-Twilight-Dance "Twilight Dance" by Renzo Novatorea long poem
"The expropiator" by Renzo Novatore
an essay in praise of

illegalism Illegalism is a tendency of anarchism that developed primarily in France, Italy, Belgium and Switzerland during the late 1890s and early 1900s as an outgrowth of individualist anarchism. Illegalists embrace criminality either openly or secret ...

and

individual reclamation The following is a list of terms specific to anarchists. Anarchism is a political and social movement which advocates voluntary association in opposition to authoritarianism and hierarchy. __NOTOC__ A :The negation of rule or "government by no ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novatore, Renzo 1890 births 1922 deaths 20th-century Italian philosophers Anti–World War I activists Critics of work and the work ethic Egoist anarchists Futurist writers Illegalists Individualist anarchists Insurrectionary anarchists Italian anarchists Italian atheists Italian anti-fascists Italian male poets People from the Province of La Spezia 20th-century Italian poets 20th-century Italian male writers