Italo Calvino
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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 ''Our Ancestors'' (Italian: ''I Nostri Antenati'') is the name of Italo Calvino's "heraldic trilogy" that comprises ''The Cloven Viscount ''The Cloven Viscount'' ( it, Il visconte dimezzato) is a fantasy novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. ...
'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomics'' collection of short stories (1965), and the novels ''
Invisible Cities ''Invisible Cities'' ( it, Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Description The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of ...
'' (1972) and ''
If on a winter's night a traveler ''If on a winter's night a traveler'' ( it, Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore) is a 1979 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. The postmodernist narrative, in the form of a frame story, is about the reader trying to read a book called ...
'' (1979). Admired in Britain,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, he was the most translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death. Italo Calvino is buried in the garden cemetery of
Castiglione della Pescaia Castiglione della Pescaia (), regionally simply abbreviated as Castiglione, is an ancient seaside town in the province of Grosseto, in Tuscany, central Italy. The modern city grew around a medieval 12th century fortress ( it, castello) and a large ...
, in
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
.


Biography


Parents

Italo Calvino was born in Santiago de las Vegas, a suburb of
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, Cuba, in 1923. His father, Mario, was a tropical
agronomist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...
and
botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
who also taught agriculture and
floriculture Floriculture, or flower farming, is a branch of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development of new varieties by plant breeding is ...
. Born 47 years earlier in
Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
, Italy, Mario Calvino had emigrated to
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 1909 where he took up an important position with the
Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
. In an autobiographical essay, Italo Calvino explained that his father "had been in his youth an anarchist, a follower of
Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activist ...
and then a Socialist Reformist".Calvino, 'Political Autobiography of a Young Man', ''Hermit in Paris'', 132. In 1917, Mario left for Cuba to conduct scientific experiments, after living through the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
. Calvino's mother, Giuliana Luigia Evelina "Eva" Mameli, was a botanist and university professor. A native of
Sassari Sassari (, ; sdc, Sàssari ; sc, Tàtari, ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 127,525 inhabitants, and a Functional Urban Area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, ...
in Sardinia and 11 years younger than her husband, she married while still a junior lecturer at
Pavia University The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...
. Born into a secular family, Eva was a
pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
educated in the "religion of civic duty and science". Eva gave Calvino his unusual first name to remind him of his Italian heritage, although since he wound up growing up in Italy after all, Calvino thought his name sounded "belligerently nationalist". Calvino described his parents as being "very different in personality from one another", suggesting perhaps deeper tensions behind a comfortable, albeit strict,
middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...
upbringing devoid of conflict. As an adolescent, he found it hard relating to
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
and the
working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
, and was "ill at ease" with his parents' openness to the labourers who filed into his father's study on Saturdays to receive their weekly paycheck.


Early life and education

In 1925, less than two years after Calvino's birth, the family returned to Italy and settled permanently in
Sanremo Sanremo (; lij, Sanrémmo(ro) or , ) or San Remo is a city and comune on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, in northwestern Italy. Founded in Roman times, it has a population of 55,000, and is known as a tourist destination on the Italian Rivie ...
on the
Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) 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 ...
n coast. Calvino's brother Floriano, who became a distinguished geologist, was born in 1927. The family divided their time between the Villa Meridiana, an experimental floriculture station which also served as their home, and Mario's ancestral land at San Giovanni Battista. On this small working farm set in the hills behind Sanremo, Mario pioneered in the cultivation of then exotic fruits such as
avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...
and
grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The interior flesh is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark pink. Grapefruit is ...
, eventually obtaining an entry in the ''Dizionario biografico degli italiani'' for his achievements. The vast forests and luxuriant fauna omnipresent in Calvino's early fiction such as ''
The Baron in the Trees ''The Baron in the Trees'' ( it, Il barone rampante) is a 1957 novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. Described as a '' conte philosophique'' and a metaphor for independence, it tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the res ...
'' derive from this "legacy". In an interview, Calvino stated that "San Remo continues to pop out in my books, in the most diverse pieces of writing." He and Floriano would climb the tree-rich estate and perch for hours on the branches reading their favorite adventure stories. Less salubrious aspects of this "paternal legacy" are described in '' The Road to San Giovanni'', Calvino's memoir of his father in which he exposes their inability to communicate: "Talking to each other was difficult. Both verbose by nature, possessed of an ocean of words, in each other's presence we became mute, would walk in silence side by side along the road to San Giovanni." A fan of
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
's ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'' as a child, Calvino felt that his early interest in stories made him the "black sheep" of a family that held literature in less esteem than the sciences. Fascinated by American movies and cartoons, he was equally attracted to drawing, poetry, and theatre. On a darker note, Calvino recalled that his earliest memory was of a
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
professor who had been brutally assaulted by
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's
Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
: "I remember clearly that we were at dinner when the old professor came in with his face beaten up and bleeding, his bowtie all torn up over it, asking for help."Calvino, 'Political Autobiography of a Young Man', ''Hermit in Paris'', 130. Other legacies include the parents' beliefs in
Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
,
Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...
with elements of
Anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...
and
Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. Austere freethinkers with an intense hatred of the ruling
National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. Th ...
, Eva and Mario also refused to give their sons any education in the Catholic Faith or any other religion.Weiss, ''Understanding Italo Calvino'', 3. Italo attended the English nursery school St George's College, followed by a Protestant elementary private school run by
Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...
. His secondary schooling, with a classical
lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...
curriculum, was completed at the state-run Liceo Gian Domenico Cassini where, at his parents' request, he was exempted from religion classes but frequently asked to justify his anti-conformism to teachers, janitors, and fellow pupils. In his mature years, Calvino described the experience as having made him "tolerant of others' opinions, particularly in the field of religion, remembering how irksome it was to hear myself mocked because I did not follow the majority's beliefs". In 1938,
Eugenio Scalfari Eugenio Scalfari (; 6 April 1924 – 14 July 2022) was an Italian journalist. He was editor of the news magazine ''L'Espresso'' (1963–1968), a member of parliament in the Chamber of Deputies (1968–1972), and co-founder of the newspaper ''La ...
, who went on to found the weekly magazine ''
L'Espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is '' Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ' ...
'' and ''
La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...
'', a major Italian newspaper, came from
Civitavecchia Civitavecchia (; meaning "ancient town") is a city and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located west-north-west of Rome. The harbour is formed by two pier ...
to join the same class though a year younger, and they shared the same desk. The two teenagers formed a lasting friendship, Calvino attributing his political awakening to their university discussions. Seated together "on a huge flat stone in the middle of a stream near our land", he and Scalfari founded a university movement called the MUL. Eva managed to delay her son's enrolment in the Party's armed scouts, the ''
Balilla Moschettieri ''Balilla'' was the nickname of Giovanni Battista Perasso (1735–1781), a Genoese boy who started the revolt of 1746 against the Habsburg forces that occupied the city in the War of the Austrian Succession by throwing a stone at an Austrian ...
'', and then arranged that he be excused, as a non-Catholic, from performing devotional acts in Church. But later on, as a compulsory member, he could not avoid the assemblies and parades of the ''
Avanguardisti Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB) was an Italian Fascist youth organization functioning between 1926 and 1937, when it was absorbed into the Gioventù Italiana del Littorio (GIL), a youth section of the National Fascist Party. It takes its name fr ...
'', and was forced to participate in the Italian invasion of the
French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...
in June 1940.


World War II

In 1941, Calvino enrolled at the
University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...
, choosing the Agriculture Faculty where his father had previously taught courses in
agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...
. Concealing his literary ambitions to please his family, he passed four exams in his first year while reading anti-Fascist works by
Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...
,
Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and works Early years Montale was born in Genoa. His family were che ...
, Cesare Pavese,
Johan Huizinga Johan Huizinga (; 7 December 1872 – 1 February 1945) was a Dutch historian and one of the founders of modern cultural history. Life Born in Groningen as the son of Dirk Huizinga, a professor of physiology, and Jacoba Tonkens, who died two y ...
, and Pisacane, and works by
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
,
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
, and
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
on physics. Calvino's real aspiration was to be a playwright. His letters to
Eugenio Scalfari Eugenio Scalfari (; 6 April 1924 – 14 July 2022) was an Italian journalist. He was editor of the news magazine ''L'Espresso'' (1963–1968), a member of parliament in the Chamber of Deputies (1968–1972), and co-founder of the newspaper ''La ...
overflow with references to Italian and foreign plays, and with plots and characters of future theatrical projects.
Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magi ...
and Gabriele D'Annunzio, Cesare Vico Lodovici and
Ugo Betti Ugo Betti (4 February 1892 in Camerino – 9 June 1953 in Rome) was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello. Biography Betti studied law in Parma at the time when ...
,
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
and
Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...
are among the main authors Calvino cites as his sources of inspiration. Disdainful of Turin students, Calvino saw himself as enclosed in a "provincial shell"Calvino, 'Political Autobiography of a Young Man', ''Hermit in Paris'', 138. that offered the illusion of immunity from the Fascist nightmare: "We were ‘hard guys’ from the provinces, hunters, snooker-players, show-offs, proud of our lack of intellectual sophistication, contemptuous of any patriotic or military rhetoric, coarse in our speech, regulars in the brothels, dismissive of any romantic sentiment and desperately devoid of women." Calvino transferred to the
University of Florence The University of Florence (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The first universi ...
in 1943 and reluctantly passed three more exams in agriculture. By the end of the year, the Germans had succeeded in occupying Liguria and setting up
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
's puppet
Republic of Salò The Italian Social Republic ( it, Repubblica Sociale Italiana, ; RSI), known as the National Republican State of Italy ( it, Stato Nazionale Repubblicano d'Italia, SNRI) prior to December 1943 but more popularly known as the Republic of Salò ...
in northern Italy. Now twenty years old, Calvino refused military service and went into hiding. Reading intensely in a wide array of subjects, he also reasoned politically that, of all the partisan groupings, the
communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
were the best organized with "the most convincing political line". In spring 1944, Eva encouraged her sons to enter the
Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...
in the name of "natural justice and family virtues".Calvino, 'Political Autobiography of a Young Man', ''Hermit in Paris'', 142. Using the battlename of "Santiago", Calvino joined the ''Garibaldi Brigades'', a clandestine Communist group and, for twenty months, endured the fighting in the
Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps (french: Alpes Maritimes ; it, Alpi Marittime ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy ...
until 1945 and the
Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...
. As a result of his refusal to be a conscript, his parents were held hostage by the
Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
for an extended period at the Villa Meridiana. Calvino wrote of his mother's ordeal that "she was an example of tenacity and courage… behaving with dignity and firmness before the SS and the Fascist militia, and in her long detention as a hostage, not least when the
blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Nation ...
three times pretended to shoot my father in front of her eyes. The historical events which mothers take part in acquire the greatness and invincibility of natural phenomena".


Turin and communism

Calvino settled in
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 ...
in 1945, after a long hesitation over living there or in
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 ...
. He often humorously belittled this choice, describing Turin as a "city that is serious but sad". Returning to university, he abandoned Agriculture for the Arts Faculty. A year later, he was initiated into the literary world by
Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...
, who published his short story "Andato al comando" (1945; "Gone to Headquarters") in ''
Il Politecnico ''Il Politecnico'' ( Italian: ''The Polytechnic'') was a Communist cultural and literary magazine published in Milan, Italy, between 1945 and 1947. In the debut editorial it was stated that the magazine was inspired by the homonymous journal whic ...
'', a Turin-based weekly magazine associated with the university. The horror of the war had not only provided the raw material for his literary ambitions but deepened his commitment to the Communist cause. Viewing civilian life as a continuation of the partisan struggle, he confirmed his membership of the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...
. On reading
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
's '' State and Revolution'', he plunged into post-war political life, associating himself chiefly with the worker's movement in Turin. In 1947, he graduated with a Master's thesis on
Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and short story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in t ...
, wrote short stories in his spare time, and landed a job in the publicity department at the Einaudi publishing house run by
Giulio Einaudi Giulio Einaudi (; 2 January 1912 – 5 April 1999) was an Italian book publisher. The eponymous company that he founded in 1933 became "a European wellspring of fine literature, intellectual thought and political theory"Saxon, Wolfgang ''The New ...
. Although brief, his stint put him in regular contact with Cesare Pavese, Natalia Ginzburg,
Norberto Bobbio Norberto Bobbio (; 18 October 1909 – 9 January 2004) was an Italian philosopher of law and political sciences and a historian of political thought. He also wrote regularly for the Turin-based daily ''La Stampa''. Bobbio was a social libe ...
, and many other left-wing intellectuals and writers. He then left Einaudi to work as a journalist for the official Communist daily, ''
L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, ...
'', and the newborn Communist political magazine, ''Rinascita''. During this period, Pavese and poet
Alfonso Gatto Alfonso Gatto (17 July 1909 – 8 March 1976) was an Italian writer. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti and Eugenio Montale, he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century and a major exponent of hermetic poetry. Biography Gatto stud ...
were Calvino's closest friends and mentors. His first novel, ''Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno'' ('' The Path to the Nest of Spiders'') written with valuable editorial advice from Pavese, won the Premio Riccione on publication in 1947. With sales topping 5000 copies, a surprise success in postwar Italy, the novel inaugurated Calvino's neorealist period. In a clairvoyant essay, Pavese praised the young writer as a "squirrel of the pen" who "climbed into the trees, more for fun than fear, to observe partisan life as a fable of the forest". In 1948, he interviewed one of his literary idols,
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
, travelling with Natalia Ginzburg to his home in
Stresa Stresa is a town and ''comune'' of about 4,600 residents on the shores of Lake Maggiore in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, about northwest of Milan. It is situated on road and rail routes to the Simp ...
. ''Ultimo viene il corvo'' (''
The Crow Comes Last ''The Crow Comes Last'' ( it, Ultimo viene il corvo) is a short story collection by Italo Calvino published in 1949. It consists of thirty stories inspired by the novelist's own experiences fighting with the Communist ''Garibaldi Brigades'' in t ...
''), a collection of stories based on his wartime experiences, was published to acclaim in 1949. Despite the triumph, Calvino grew increasingly worried by his inability to compose a worthy second novel. He returned to Einaudi in 1950, responsible this time for the literary volumes. He eventually became a consulting editor, a position that allowed him to hone his writing talent, discover new writers, and develop into "a reader of texts". In late 1951, presumably to advance in the Communist Party, he spent two months in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
as correspondent for ''l'Unità''. While in Moscow, he learned of his father's death on 25 October. The articles and correspondence he produced from this visit were published in 1952, winning the Saint-Vincent Prize for journalism. Over a seven-year period, Calvino wrote three realist novels, ''The White Schooner'' (1947–1949), ''Youth in Turin'' (1950–1951), and ''The Queen's Necklace'' (1952–54), but all were deemed defective. Calvino's first efforts as a fictionist were marked with his experience in the Italian resistance during the Second World War, however his acclamation as a writer of fantastic stories came in the 1950s. During the eighteen months it took to complete ''I giovani del Po'' (''Youth in Turin''), he made an important self-discovery: "I began doing what came most naturally to me – that is, following the memory of the things I had loved best since boyhood. Instead of making myself write the book I ''ought'' to write, the novel that was expected of me, I conjured up the book I myself would have liked to read, the sort by an unknown writer, from another age and another country, discovered in an attic." The result was ''Il visconte dimezzato'' (1952; ''
The Cloven Viscount ''The Cloven Viscount'' ( it, Il visconte dimezzato) is a fantasy novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was first published by Giulio Einaudi, Einaudi (Turin) in 1952 and in English in 1962 by William Collins (publisher), William Collins, w ...
'') composed in 30 days between July and September 1951. The protagonist, a seventeenth century viscount sundered in two by a cannonball, incarnated Calvino's growing political doubts and the divisive turbulence of the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. Skilfully interweaving elements of the
fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse (poetry), verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphized, and that illustrat ...
and the
fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
genres, the
allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory t ...
novel launched him as a modern "
fabulist Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
". In 1954, Giulio Einaudi commissioned his ''Fiabe Italiane'' (1956; ''
Italian Folktales ''Italian Folktales'' (''Fiabe italiane'') is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's '' Morphology of the Folktale''; his intention was to emula ...
'') on the basis of the question, "Is there an Italian equivalent of the
Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
?" For two years, Calvino collated tales found in 19th century collections across Italy then translated 200 of the finest from various dialects into Italian. Key works he read at this time were
Vladimir Propp Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp (russian: Владимир Яковлевич Пропп; – 22 August 1970) was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic structural elements of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irredu ...
's ''Morphology of the Folktale'' and ''Historical Roots of Russian Fairy Tales'', stimulating his own ideas on the origin, shape and function of the story. In 1952 Calvino wrote with
Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000) was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood wit ...
for ''
Botteghe Oscure ''Botteghe Oscure'' was a literary journal that was published and edited in Rome by Marguerite Caetani (Princess di Bassiano) from 1948 to 1960. History and profile ''Botteghe Oscure'' was established in 1948. The magazine was named after via d ...
'', a magazine named after the popular name of the party's head-offices in Rome. He also worked for ''Il Contemporaneo'', a
Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
weekly. From 1955 to 1958 Calvino had an affair with Italian actress
Elsa De Giorgi Elsa De Giorgi (26 January 1914 – 12 September 1997) was an Italian film actress and writer. She appeared in twenty seven films, including '' Captain Fracasse'' (1940). Her 1955 book ''I coetanei'' (The Peers), a diary of Italy during the civ ...
, a married, older woman. Excerpts of the hundreds of love letters Calvino wrote to her were published in the ''
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 ...
'' in 2004, causing some controversy.


After communism

In 1957, disillusioned by the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, Calvino left the Italian Communist Party. In his letter of resignation published in ''
L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, ...
'' on 7 August, he explained the reason of his dissent (the violent suppression of the Hungarian uprising and the revelation of
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
's crimes) while confirming his "confidence in the democratic perspectives" of world Communism. He withdrew from taking an active role in politics and never joined another party. Ostracized by the PCI party leader
Palmiro Togliatti Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti (; 26 March 1893 – 21 August 1964) was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death. He was nicknamed ("The Best") by his supporters. In 1930 he became a citizen of ...
and his supporters on publication of ''Becalmed in the Antilles'' (''La gran bonaccia delle Antille''), a satirical allegory of the party's immobilism, Calvino began writing ''
The Baron in the Trees ''The Baron in the Trees'' ( it, Il barone rampante) is a 1957 novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. Described as a '' conte philosophique'' and a metaphor for independence, it tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the res ...
''. Completed in three months and published in 1957, the fantasy is based on the "problem of the intellectual's political commitment at a time of shattered illusions". He found new outlets for his periodic writings in the journals ''Città aperta'' and ''Tempo presente'', the magazine ''Passato e presente'', and the weekly ''Italia Domani''. With Vittorini in 1959, he became co-editor of '' 'Il Menabò'', a cultural journal devoted to literature in the modern industrial age, a position he held until 1966. Despite severe restrictions in the US against foreigners holding communist views, Calvino was allowed to visit the United States, where he stayed six months from 1959 to 1960 (four of which he spent in New York), after an invitation by the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
. Calvino was particularly impressed by the "New World": "Naturally I visited the South and also California, but I always felt a New Yorker. My city is New York." The letters he wrote to Einaudi describing this visit to the United States were first published as "American Diary 1959–1960" in ''
Hermit in Paris A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
'' in 2003. In 1962 Calvino met Argentinian translator Esther Judith Singer ("Chichita") and married her in 1964 in
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, during a trip in which he visited his birthplace and was introduced to
Ernesto "Che" Guevara Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
. On 15 October 1967, a few days after Guevara's death, Calvino wrote a tribute to him that was published in Cuba in 1968, and in Italy thirty years later. He and his wife settled in Rome in the via Monte Brianzo where their daughter, Giovanna, was born in 1965. Once again working for Einaudi, Calvino began publishing some of his " Cosmicomics" in ''Il Caffè'', a literary magazine.


Later life and work

Vittorini's death in 1966 greatly affected Calvino. He went through what he called an "intellectual depression", which the writer himself described as an important passage in his life: "I ceased to be young. Perhaps it's a metabolic process, something that comes with age, I'd been young for a long time, perhaps too long, suddenly I felt that I had to begin my old age, yes, old age, perhaps with the hope of prolonging it by beginning it early." Amid the atmosphere that would evolve into 1968's cultural revolution (the
French May Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which h ...
), he and his family moved to Paris in 1967, taking up residence in a villa in the Square de Châtillon. Nicknamed ''l'ironique amusé'', Calvino was invited by
Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau w ...
in 1968 to join the
Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...
(''Ouvroir de littérature potentielle'') group of experimental writers where he met
Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popular ...
and
Georges Perec Georges Perec (; 7 March 1936 – 3 March 1982) was a French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist, and essayist. He was a member of the Oulipo group. His father died as a soldier early in the Second World War and his mother was killed in the Hol ...
, who would influence his later work. That same year, he turned down the
Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanes ...
for ''Ti con zero'' (''Time and the Hunter'') on the grounds that it was an award given by "institutions emptied of meaning". He accepted, however, both the Asti Prize and the
Feltrinelli Prize The Feltrinelli Prize (from the Italian "Premio Feltrinelli", also known as "International Feltrinelli Prize" or "Antonio Feltrinelli Prize") is an award for achievement in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical and ...
for his writing in 1970 and 1972, respectively. In two autobiographical essays published in 1962 and 1970, Calvino described himself as "atheist" and his outlook as "non-religious". Calvino had more significant contact with the academic world, notably at the
Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
(with Barthes) and the University of
Urbino Urbino ( ; ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of F ...
. His literary interests spanned multiple periods, genres, and languages, including
Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly , ; born Honoré Balzac;Jean-Louis Dega, La vie prodigieuse de Bernard-François Balssa, père d'Honoré de Balzac : Aux sources historiques de La Comédie humaine, Rodez, Subervie, 1998, 665 p. 20 May 179 ...
, Ludovico Ariosto,
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
,
Ignacio de Loyola ''Ignacio de Loyola'' () is a 2016 Philippine historical biographical religious drama film directed by Paolo Dy in his directorial debut. It is based on the memoirs of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order who was canonized as a saint i ...
,
Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...
,
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
,
Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
, and
Giacomo Leopardi Count Giacomo Taldegardo Francesco di Sales Saverio Pietro Leopardi (, ; 29 June 1798 – 14 June 1837) was an Italian philosopher, poet, essayist, and philologist. He is considered the greatest Italian poet of the nineteenth century and one of ...
. Between 1972 and 1973, Calvino published two short stories, "The Name, the Nose" and the
Oulipo Oulipo (, short for french: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle; roughly translated: ''"workshop of potential literature"'', stylized ''OuLiPo'') is a loose gathering of (mainly) French-speaking writers and mathematicians who seek to create works ...
-inspired "
The Burning of the Abominable House "The Burning of the Abominable House" (Italian title: ''L'incendio della casa abominevole'') is a short story by the Italian novelist Italo Calvino. It can be considered an experiment of computer-aided literature, where the techniques of combinatori ...
", in the Italian edition of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
''. He also became a regular contributor to the Italian newspaper ''
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 ...
''. During this period, Calvino spent his summer vacations in a house constructed in the pinewood of
Roccamare Roccamare is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Castiglione della Pescaia, province of Grosseto. At the time of the 2001 census its population amounted to 107. Geography Roccamare is about 25  ...
, in
Castiglione della Pescaia Castiglione della Pescaia (), regionally simply abbreviated as Castiglione, is an ancient seaside town in the province of Grosseto, in Tuscany, central Italy. The modern city grew around a medieval 12th century fortress ( it, castello) and a large ...
,
Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
. In 1975, Calvino was made Honorary Member of the American Academy. Awarded the
Austrian State Prize for European Literature The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (german: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur), also known in Austria as the European Literary Award (''Europäischer Literaturpreis''), is an Austria Austria, , bar, Ö ...
in 1976, he visited Mexico, Japan, and the United States, where he gave a series of lectures in several American towns. After his mother died in 1978 at the age of 92, Calvino sold Villa Meridiana, the family home in San Remo. Two years later, he moved to Rome in Piazza Campo Marzio near the
Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...
and began editing the work of
Tommaso Landolfi Tommaso Landolfi (9 August 1908 – 8 July 1979) was an Italian writer, translator and literary critic. His numerous grotesque tales and novels, sometimes on the border of speculative fiction, science fiction and realism, place him in a unique a ...
for Rizzoli. Awarded the French
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in 1981, he also accepted the role of jury president for the 38th
Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
. During the summer of 1985, Calvino prepared a series of texts on literature for the
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures The Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry at Harvard University was established in 1925 as an annual lectureship in "poetry in the broadest sense" and named for the university's former professor of fine arts. Distinguished creative figure ...
to be delivered at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in the fall. On 6 September, he was admitted to the hospital of
Santa Maria della Scala Santa Maria della Scala (English: Mary of the Staircase) is a titular church in Rome, Italy, located in the Trastevere rione. Cardinal Ernest Simoni took possession of the titular church on 11 February 2017. Santa Maria della Scala is a titular ...
in
Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...
(now a museum) where he died during the night between 18 and 19 September of a cerebral hemorrhage. His lecture notes were published posthumously in Italian in 1988 and in English as '' Six Memos for the Next Millennium'' in 1993.


Authors he helped publish

*
Mario Rigoni Stern Mario Rigoni Stern (1 November 1921 – 16 June 2008) was an Italian author and World War II veteran.Gianni Celati *
Andrea De Carlo Andrea De Carlo (born 11 December 1952) is an Italian novelist. He has published almost two dozen novels, many of which have been translated. Biography Andrea De Carlo grew up in Milan. He attended the ''liceo classico'' Giovanni Berchet (whic ...
*
Daniele Del Giudice Daniele Del Giudice (11 January 1949 – 2 September 2021) was an Italian author and lecturer. He lived in Venice, where he taught theatrical literature at the University Iuav of Venice. Biography Born in Rome in 1949, Del Giudice researched av ...
*
Leonardo Sciascia Leonardo Sciascia (; 8 January 1921 – 20 November 1989) was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright, and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including '' Porte Aperte'' (1990; ''Open Doors''), ''Cadaveri Eccellent ...


Selected bibliography

A selected bibliography of Calvino's writings follows, listing the works that have been published in English translation, along with a few major untranslated works. More exhaustive bibliographies can be found in
Martin McLaughlin Martin L. McLaughlin is Professor of Italian and Agnelli-Serena Professor of Italian Studies in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford where he is a Fellow of Magdalen College.Libretti A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major l ...


Translations


Selected filmography

* ''
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 di ...
'', 1962 (co-wrote screenplay of "Renzo e Luciano" segment 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 ...
) * ''L'Amore difficile'', 1963 (wrote "L'avventura di un soldato" segment directed by Nino Manfredi) * ''Tiko and the Shark'', 1964 (co-wrote screenplay directed by Folco Quilici)


Film and television adaptations

* ''The Nonexistent Knight'' by
Pino Zac Giuseppe Zaccaria (23 April 1930 – 25 August 1985), best known as Pino Zac, was an Italian illustrator, cartoonist and animator. Biography Born in Trapani, Sicily, Zac spent his childhood in Pratola Peligna, Abruzzo and eventually moved to R ...
, 1969 (Italian animated film based on the novel) * ''Amores dificiles'' by Ana Luisa Ligouri, 1983 (13' Mexican short) * ''L'Aventure d'une baigneuse'' by Philippe Donzelot, 1991 (14' French short based on ''The Adventure of a Bather'' in ''Difficult Loves'' ) * '' Fantaghirò'' by Lamberto Bava, 1991 (TV adaptation based on ''Fanta-Ghirò the Beautiful'' in ''
Italian Folktales ''Italian Folktales'' (''Fiabe italiane'') is a collection of 200 Italian folktales published in 1956 by Italo Calvino. Calvino began the project in 1954, influenced by Vladimir Propp's '' Morphology of the Folktale''; his intention was to emula ...
'') * ''
Palookaville Palookaville may refer to: * ''Palookaville'' (film), a 1995 comedy film * ''Palookaville'' (album), a 2004 electronic album by Fatboy Slim * ''Palookaville'' (comics), an alternative comic book See also * Palooka (disambiguation) {{disa ...
'' by Alan Taylor, 1995 (American film based on ''Theft in a Cake Shop'', ''Desire in November'', and ''Transit Bed'') *''Solidarity'' by Nancy Kiang, 2006 (10' American short) * ''Conscience'' by Yu-Hsiu Camille Chen, 2009 (10' Australian short) * "La Luna" by Enrico Casarosa, 2011 (American short)


Films on Calvino

*
Damian Pettigrew Damian (also Damien) Pettigrew (March 10, 1963) is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, author, and multimedia artist, best known for his cinematic portraits of Balthus, Federico Fellini, and Jean Giraud. Released theatrically in fif ...
, ''Lo specchio di Calvino'' (''Inside Italo'', 2012). Co-produced by
Arte France Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
, Italy's Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, and the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
, the feature-length
docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or cinéma vérité) a ...
stars
Neri Marcorè Neri Marcorè (born 31 July 1966) is an Italian actor, voice actor, impressionist, television presenter and singer. He has appeared in 22 films and television shows since 1994. He starred in the film '' Incantato'', which was entered into the 20 ...
as the Italian writer and critic
Pietro Citati Pietro Citati (20 February 1930 – 28 July 2022) was an Italian writer and literary critic. He was born in Florence. He wrote critical biographies of Goethe, Alexander the Great, Kafka and Marcel Proust as well as a short memoir on his thirty-ye ...
. The film also uses in-depth conversations videotaped at Calvino's Rome penthouse a year before his death in 1985 and rare footage from
RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
, INA (
Institut national de l'audiovisuel The (abbrev. INA), () is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides free access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia. It has its headquarters in Bry-sur-Marne. Since 20 ...
), and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television archives. The 52-minute French version titled, ''Dans la peau d'Italo Calvino'' ("Being Italo Calvino"), was broadcast by Arte France on 19 December 2012 and Sky Arte (Italy) on 14 October 2013.


Legacy

The ''
Scuola Italiana Italo Calvino The Scuola italiana "Italo Calvino" ("Italo Calvino Italian School"; russian: Итальянская школа имени Итало Кальвино) is the only Italian curriculum school in Russia.22370 Italocalvino'', are also named after him. ''Salt Hill Journal'' and
University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...
award annually the Italo Calvino Prize "for a work of fiction written in the fabulist experimental style of Italo Calvino". Kai Nieminen (b. 1953) wrote his flute concerto (2001) based on the story of
Mr. Palomar ''Mr. Palomar'' is a 1983 novel by the Italian writer Italo Calvino. Its original Italian title is ''Palomar''. In an interview with Gregory Lucente, Calvino stated that he began writing ''Mr. Palomar'' in 1975, making it a predecessor to earlier ...
. The text was written to the dedicatee,
Patrick Gallois Patrick Gallois (born 1956) is a French flutist and conductor. Gallois was born in Linselles near the town of Lille in the north of France. At the age of 17 he began studies at the Conservatoire de Paris with the celebrated flutist Jean-Pierre Ra ...
.


Awards

* 1946 –
L'Unità ''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, ...
Prize (shared with Marcello Venturi) for the short story, ''Minefield'' (''Campo di mine'') * 1947 – Riccione Prize for '' The Path to the Nest of Spiders'' * 1952 – Saint-Vincent Prize * 1957 –
Viareggio Prize The Viareggio Prize ( it, Premio Viareggio, italic=no or ) is an Italian literary prize, first awarded in 1930. Named after the Tuscan city of Viareggio, it was conceived by three friends, , Carlo Salsa and Leonida Rèpaci, to rival the Milanes ...
for ''
The Baron in the Trees ''The Baron in the Trees'' ( it, Il barone rampante) is a 1957 novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. Described as a '' conte philosophique'' and a metaphor for independence, it tells the adventures of a boy who climbs up a tree to spend the res ...
'' * 1959 –
Bagutta Prize The Bagutta Prize is an Italian literary prize that is awarded annually to Italian writers. The prize originated among patrons of Milan's ''Bagutta Ristorante''. The writer Riccardo Bacchelli discovered the restaurant and soon he regularly gathere ...
* 1960 – Salento Prize for ''
Our Ancestors ''Our Ancestors'' (Italian: ''I Nostri Antenati'') is the name of Italo Calvino's "heraldic trilogy" that comprises ''The Cloven Viscount ''The Cloven Viscount'' ( it, Il visconte dimezzato) is a fantasy novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. ...
'' * 1963 – International Charles Veillon Prize for ''The Watcher'' * 1970 – Asti Prize * 1972 –
Feltrinelli Prize The Feltrinelli Prize (from the Italian "Premio Feltrinelli", also known as "International Feltrinelli Prize" or "Antonio Feltrinelli Prize") is an award for achievement in the arts, music, literature, history, philosophy, medicine, and physical and ...
for ''
Invisible Cities ''Invisible Cities'' ( it, Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Description The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of ...
'' * 1976 –
Austrian State Prize for European Literature The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (german: Österreichischer Staatspreis für Europäische Literatur), also known in Austria as the European Literary Award (''Europäischer Literaturpreis''), is an Austria Austria, , bar, Ö ...
* 1981 –
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
* 1982 –
World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...
– Life Achievement


Notes


Sources


Primary sources

*Calvino, Italo. ''Adam, One Afternoon'' (trans. Archibald Colquhoun, Peggy Wright). London: Minerva, 1992. *—. ''The Castle of Crossed Destinies'' (trans.
William Weaver William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
). London: Secker & Warburg, 1977 *—. ''Cosmicomics'' (trans. William Weaver). London: Picador, 1993. *—. ''The Crow Comes Last'' (''Ultimo viene il corvo''). Turin: Einaudi, 1949. *—. ''Difficult Loves. Smog. A Plunge into Real Estate'' (trans. William Weaver, Donald Selwyn Carne-Ross). London: Picador, 1985. *—. ''Hermit in Paris'' (trans. Martin McLaughlin). London: Jonathan Cape, 2003. *—. ''If on a winter's night a traveller'' (trans. William Weaver). London: Vintage, 1998. *—. ''Invisible Cities'' (trans. William Weaver). London: Secker & Warburg, 1974. *—. ''Italian Fables'' (trans. Louis Brigante). New York: Collier, 1961. (50 tales) *—. ''Italian Folk Tales'' (trans. Sylvia Mulcahy). London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1975. (24 tales) *—. ''Italian Folktales'' (trans. George Martin). Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1980. (complete 200 tales) *—. ''Marcovaldo or the Seasons in the City'' (trans. William Weaver). London: Minerva, 1993. *—. ''Mr. Palomar'' (trans. William Weaver). London: Vintage, 1999. *—. ''Our Ancestors'' (trans. A. Colquhoun). London: Vintage, 1998. *—. ''The Path to the Nest of Spiders'' (trans. Archibald Colquhoun). Boston: Beacon, 1957. *—. ''The Path to the Spiders' Nests'' (trans. A. Colquhoun, revised by Martin McLaughlin). London: Jonathan Cape, 1993. *—. ''t zero'' (trans. William Weaver). New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969. *—. ''The Road to San Giovanni'' (trans. Tim Parks). New York: Vintage International, 1993. *—. ''Six Memos for the Next Millennium'' (trans. Patrick Creagh). New York: Vintage International, 1993. *—. ''The Watcher and Other Stories'' (trans. William Weaver). New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1971.


Secondary sources

* Barenghi, Mario, and Bruno Falcetto. ''Romanzi e racconti di Italo Calvino''. Milano: Mondadori, 1991. * Bernardini Napoletano, Francesca. ''I segni nuovi di Italo Calvino''. Rome: Bulzoni, 1977. * Bonura, Giuseppe. ''Invito alla lettura di Calvino''. Milan: U. Mursia, 1972. * Calvino, Italo. ''Uno scrittore pomeridiano: Intervista sull'arte della narrativa'' a cura di
William Weaver William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
e
Damian Pettigrew Damian (also Damien) Pettigrew (March 10, 1963) is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, author, and multimedia artist, best known for his cinematic portraits of Balthus, Federico Fellini, and Jean Giraud. Released theatrically in fif ...
con un ricordo di
Pietro Citati Pietro Citati (20 February 1930 – 28 July 2022) was an Italian writer and literary critic. He was born in Florence. He wrote critical biographies of Goethe, Alexander the Great, Kafka and Marcel Proust as well as a short memoir on his thirty-ye ...
. Rome: minimum fax, 2003. . * Corti, Maria. 'Intervista: Italo Calvino' in ''Autografo 2'' (October 1985): 47–53. * Di Carlo, Franco. ''Come leggere I nostri antenati''. Milan: U. Mursia, 1958. (1998 ). * McLaughlin, Martin. ''Italo Calvino''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998. (pb. ). * Weiss, Beno. ''Understanding Italo Calvino''. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1993. . * Anderson, Helen Victoria. ''Historical and detective fiction in Italy 1950-2006 : Calvino, Malerba and Mancinelli''. Oxford University, 2010.


Online sources


Italo Calvino at Emory University
Online Resources and Links
Outside the Town of Malbork
A Site for Italo Calvino
The Words that Failed
Calvino on Che Guevara *http://atlantecalvino.unige.ch/ vizualisation of Calvino's work by


Further reading

General *Benussi, Cristina (1989). ''Introduzione a Calvino''. Rome: Laterza. * Bartoloni, Paolo (2003). ''Interstitial Writing: Calvino, Caproni, Sereni and Svevo''. Leicester: Troubador. * Bloom, Harold (ed.)(2002). ''Bloom's Major Short Story Writers: Italo Calvino''. Broomall, Pennsylvania: Chelsea House. * Bolongaro, Eugenio (2003). '' Italo Calvino and the Compass of Literature''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * Cannon, JoAnn (1981). ''Italo Calvino: Writer and Critic''. Ravenna: Longo Press. * Carter III, Albert Howard (1987). ''Italo Calvino: Metamorphoses of Fantasy.'' Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press. * Chubb, Stephen (1997). ''I, Writer, I, Reader: the Concept of the Self in the Fiction of Italo Calvino''. Leicester: Troubador. * Gabriele, Tomassina (1994). ''Italo Calvino: Eros and Language''. Teaneck, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. * Jeannet, Angela M. (2000) ''Under the Radiant Sun and the Crescent Moon''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. * Markey, Constance (1999). ''Italo Calvino. A Journey Toward Postmodernism''. Gainesville: Florida University Press. * —. Interview. "Italo Calvino: The Contemporary Fabulist" in ''Italian Quarterly'', 23 (spring 1982): 77–85. * Pilz, Kerstin (2005). ''Mapping Complexity: Literature and Science in the Works of Italo Calvino''. Leicester: Troubador.


External links


Italo Calvino at Emory University
On-Line Resources and Links
Outside the Town of Malbork
A Site for Italo Calvino * * * ;Excerpts, essays, artwork
The Distance of the Moon
read by
Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywo ...
in 2013
If on a winter's night a traveler
First chapter excerpts * Chapter 8 of '' Cosmicomics''
Calvino on Myth




Essays on Calvino {{DEFAULTSORT:Calvino, Italo Italo Calvino 1923 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian short story writers 20th-century male writers Collectors of fairy tales Italian atheists Italian communists Italian folklorists Italian male journalists Italian magazine editors Italian male novelists Italian male short story writers Italian resistance movement members Recipients of the Legion of Honour Magic realism writers Oulipo members Postmodern writers The New Yorker people University of Florence alumni University of Paris people University of Turin alumni Viareggio Prize winners World Fantasy Award-winning writers Writers from Havana Cuban emigrants to Italy Italian science fiction writers Italian magazine founders