Brunella Gasperini, pen name of Bianca Robecchi (
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, 22 December 1918 – Milan, 7 January 1979) was an Italian
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
and
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 writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...
.
Biography
She spent most of her life between Milan, her birthplace, and San Mamete, a small hamlet in
Valsolda
Valsolda is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 1,400 inhabitants in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy on the border with Switzerland. It is located about north of Milan, about north of Como and east of Lugano.
Valsolda ('' ...
, on
Lake Lugano
__NOTOC__
Lake Lugano ( it, Lago di Lugano or , from la, Ceresius lacus; lmo, Lagh de Lugan) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated ...
.
After a short experience as a teacher in the immediate post-war period, she started writing for the newspaper ''Il
Corriere della Sera
The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015.
First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...
'' and many
Rizzoli magazines in the early 1950s, distinguishing herself for her modern and progressive point of view on the problems that would dominate Italian society in the following years. Her column ''Ditelo a Brunella'' ("Tell Brunella"), where she established a direct and frank dialogue with her readers on such themes as divorce, abortion, family and politics, appeared on ''
Annabella
Annabella, Anabella, or Anabela is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Annabella of Scotland (c. 1433–1509), daughter of King James I
*Annabella (actress) (1907–1996), stage name of French actress Suzanne Georgette C ...
'' for twenty-five years. She dealt with similar issues in her column ''Lettere a Candida'' ("Letters to Candida"), in the magazine ''Novella''.
In 1956 she published her first novel, ''L'estate dei bisbigli'' (previously issued in instalments in ''Annabella''), followed by ''Io e loro: cronache di un marito'' (1959), ''Rosso di sera'' (1964), ''A scuola si muore'' (1975) and ''Grazie lo stesso'', all published by
Rizzoli. Her non-fiction work includes the humouristic handbook manual ''Il galateo di Brunella Gasperini'' (Sonzogno, 1975) and her autobiography ''Una donna e altri animali'' (Rizzoli, 1978).
A selection of her editorials and of the letters published in ''Annabella'' was collected posthumously in ''Così la penso io'' (Rizzoli, 1979) and ''Più botte che risposte'' (Rizzoli, 1981).
Her books have been translated and successfully published into several languages, such as German, French, Spanish, Hungarian.
From her marriage to Adelmo Gasperini (called Mino by everyone and “life mate” by Brunella) she had two children, Massimo (1946-2013), a sculptor, and Nicoletta (1950-1989), herself a journalist,
who wrote assiduously for different fashion and music magazines.
Bibliography
Fiction
*1956 ''L'estate dei bisbigli'', Rizzoli
*1957 ''Le vie del vento'', Rizzoli
*1957 ''Fanali gialli'', Rizzoli
*1958 ''Le note blu'', Rizzoli
*1958 ''Le ragazze della villa accanto'', Rizzoli
*1959 ''Io e loro: cronache di un marito'', Rizzoli
*1960 ''Ero io quella'', Rizzoli
*1961 ''Lui e noi: cronache di una moglie'', Rizzoli
*1964 ''Rosso di sera'', Rizzoli
*1965 ''Noi e loro: cronache di una figlia'', Rizzoli
*1970 ''I fantasmi nel cassetto'', Edizioni di Novissima
*1973 ''Luna straniera'', AMZ
*1974 ''Siamo in famiglia'', Rizzoli
*1975 ''A scuola si muore'', Rizzoli
*1975 ''Il buio alle spalle'', AMZ
*1976 ''Grazie lo stesso'', Rizzoli
*1976 ''Storie d'amore storie d'allegria'' (short stories), Rizzoli
*1978 ''Una donna e altri animali'', Rizzoli
Other
*1957 ''Dopo di lei, signora'', Rizzoli
*1958 ''Cos'è una donna: problemi e segreti delle adolescenti'', Marietti
*1960 ''Sposarsi è facile ma...'', Rizzoli
*1975 ''I problemi sessuali e psicologici dell'adolescenza'', AMZ
*1975 ''I problemi sessuali e psicologici prima del matrimonio'', AMZ
*1975 ''Cos'è conoscersi: problemi e rapporti col tuo ragazzo'', Marietti
*1975 ''Il galateo di Brunella Gasperini'', Sonzogno
*1976 ''I problemi sessuali e psicologici della coppia'', AMZ
*1976 ''Di chi è la colpa: capire e risolvere i problemi del matrimonio'', Marietti
*1979 ''Così la penso io'', Rizzoli
*1981 ''Più botte che risposte'' (collection of letters to ''
Annabella
Annabella, Anabella, or Anabela is a feminine given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Annabella of Scotland (c. 1433–1509), daughter of King James I
*Annabella (actress) (1907–1996), stage name of French actress Suzanne Georgette C ...
''), Rizzoli
References
External links
Fans Page (Italian)Page in English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasperini, Brunella
1918 births
1979 deaths
Italian women novelists
Italian women journalists
Journalists from Milan
20th-century Italian women writers
20th-century Italian novelists
Pseudonymous women writers
Italian feminists
20th-century Italian translators
Writers from Milan
20th-century pseudonymous writers