Giovanni Arpino (27 January 1927 – 10 December 1987) was an Italian writer and

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 ...

Life

Born in

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese parents, Arpino moved to

Bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, or ; ), is a form-fitting undergarment that is primarily used to support and cover breasts. It can serve a range of other practical and aesthetic purposes, including enhancing or reducing the appear ...

in the

Province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

. Here he married Caterina Brero before moving to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, where he would remain for the rest of his life. He graduated in 1951 with a thesis on the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n poet

Sergei Yesenin Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin ( rus, Сергей Александрович Есенин, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈsʲenʲɪn; ( 1895 – 28 December 1925), sometimes spelled as Esenin, was a Russian lyric poet. He is one o ...

and the following year made his literary debut with the novel ''Sei stato felice, Giovanni'', published by

Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician *Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi *Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...

. He took up sports journalism, writing for the daily papers ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

'' and ''

Il Giornale ''il Giornale'' ( en, The Newspaper) is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. History and profile The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc ...

''; together with

Gianni Brera Giovanni Luigi "Gianni" Brera (8 September 1919 – 19 December 1992) was an Italian sports journalist and novelist. This is a description by himself: "My real name is Giovanni Luigi Brera. I was born on 8 September 1919 in San Zenone Po in the ...

at the ''

La Gazzetta dello Sport ''La Gazzetta dello Sport'' (; "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any kind in Italy (in 2018). History and profile ''La ...

'' he brought a new literary quality to Italian writing on sport. His most important work in this line was the 1977

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

novel ''Azzurro tenebra''. In Italy he got to know the Argentinian writer and fellow sports enthusiast

Osvaldo Soriano Osvaldo Soriano (January 6, 1943 – January 29, 1997) was an Argentine journalist and writer.Osvaldo Soriano
at the

. Arpino also wrote plays, short stories, epigrams and stories for children. He won the

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

in 1964 with ''L'ombra delle colline'', 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 ar ...

of 1972 with ''Randagio è l'eroe'' and the 1980 SuperCampiello with ''Il fratello italiano''. His novels are characterised by a dry and ironic style. His novel ''Un delitto d'onore'' became

Pietro Germi Pietro Germi (; 14 September 1914 – 5 December 1974) was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor, noted for his development of the neorealist and commedia all'Italiana genres. His 1961 film ''Divorce Italian Style'' earned him a Be ...

’s highly regarded 1962 comedy ''

Divorce, Italian Style ''Divorce Italian Style'' ( it, Divorzio all'italiana) is a 1961 Italian dark comedy film directed by Pietro Germi. The screenplay is by Germi, Ennio De Concini, Alfredo Giannetti, and Agenore Incrocci, based on Giovanni Arpino's novel ''Un delit ...

'', with

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (28 September 1924 – 19 December 1996) was an Italian film actor, regarded as one of his country's most iconic male performers of the 20th century. He played leading roles for many of Italy's top di ...

. His story ''Il buio e il miele'' was made into two films:

Dino Risi Dino Risi (23 December 1916 – 7 June 2008) was an Italian film director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy and Ettore Scola, he was one of the masters of ''commedia all'italiana''. Biography Risi was born in Milan. He had an ol ...

’s ''

Profumo di donna ''Scent of a Woman'' ( it, Profumo di donna) is a 1974 Commedia all'italiana film directed by Dino Risi, based on ''Il buio e il miele'', a story by Giovanni Arpino. Both Risi and the leading actor Vittorio Gassman won important Italian and Fren ...

'', with

Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...

, and

Martin Brest Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Education Brest was born in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969, from New York University's School of the Arts in ...

’s '' Scent of a Woman'', which earned

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...

. Arpino died in Turin in 1987. His links to his childhood town of Bra have been maintained by the establishment of a multifunctional cultural centre and of a prize for children's literature.

Works

*''Sei stato felice, Giovanni'' (1952) *''Gli anni del giudizio'' (1958) *''La suora giovane'' (1959) *''

Un delitto d'onore Un delitto d'onore (English: ''A Crime of Honor'') is a novel written by Giovanni Arpino in 1960, in which the writer denounces moral and social prejudices linked to honour killing, once used as extenuating circumstance in Italian law. The novel ...

'' (1960) *''Una nuvola d'ira'' (1962) *''L'ombra delle colline'' (1962) *''Un'anima persa'' (1966) *''La babbuina'' (1967) *''Il buio e il miele'' (1969) translated as ''Scent of a Woman'' (2012) *''Randagio è l'eroe'' (1972) *''Racconti di vent’anni'' (1974) *''L'assalto al treno ed altre storie'' (1974) *''Rafé e Micropiede'' (1974) *''Domingo il favoloso'' (1975) *''Il primo quarto di luna'' (1976) *''Azzurro tenebra'' (1977) *''Il fratello italiano'' (1980) *''Le mille e una Italia'' (1980) *''Un gran mare di gente'' (1981) *''Bocce ferme'' (1982) *''La sposa segreta'' (1983) *''Il contadino Genè'' (1985) *'' Passo d'addio'' (1986) *''La trappola amorosa'' (postumo, 1988) In 2005

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

published a volume of selected works edited by the

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

Giorgio Bàrberi Squarotti.

Filmography

* In '' Renzo e Luciana'', an episode from ''

Boccaccio '70 ''Boccaccio '70'' is a 1962 comedy anthology film directed by Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli and Luchino Visconti from an idea by Cesare Zavattini. It consists of four episodes, each by one of the directors, all about a diffe ...

'' taken from

Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...

’s ''L'avventura di due sposi'' and directed by

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter and one of the masters of the ''Commedia all'Italiana'' (Comedy Italian style). He was nominated six times for an Oscar, and was awa ...

(1962), Arpino worked on the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

alongside Calvino, Susi Cecchi D'Amico and

. * His '' Il buio e il miele'' was turned into the well-known and multiple prize-winning film ''

'' (1974), directed by

with

as Captain Fausto Consolo and

Agostina Belli Agostina Belli (born 13 April 1949) is an Italian film actress. She has appeared in more than 50 films since 1968. Life and career Born in Milan as Agostina Maria Magnoni, Belli made her debut in 1968 with a minor part in ''Bandits in Milan'', ...

as Sara. This film in turn was remade in 1992 as '' Scent of a Woman'' (1992). * In 1977 Dino Risi's film ''

Anima persa ''The Forbidden Room'' ( it, Anima persa) is a 1977 thriller film directed by Dino Risi. It is based on the novel '' Un'anima persa'' by Giovanni Arpino. The film was co-production between Italy and France by Dean Film and Les Productions Fox Eur ...

'', with

as Fabio Stolz and

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

as Sofia Stolz, was freely adapted from Arpino's novel of the same name. * In a 1991 documentary for the French television series ''Un livre un jour'' Arpino appeared as himself.

References

:''This article was based originally on its counterpart in the Italian Wikipedia, '' :it:Giovanni Arpino'', which is licensed under the

GFDL The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...

.''

Life

Works

Filmography

References

Further reading