Luigi Barzini Jr. (21 December 1908 – 30 March 1984) was an Italian journalist, writer and politician most famous for his 1964 book ''The Italians'', delving deeply into the Italian national character and introducing many Anglo-Saxon and German readers to Italian life and culture.
[Sarti, ''Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present'']
p. 142
/ref>
Early life
Barzini junior was born 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 ...
, Lombardy, the son of Luigi Barzini Sr., a famous journalist. In the 1920s, his father left the '' Corriere della Sera'' and moved to the United States, where he directed the Italian-American newspaper ''Corriere d'America'' from 1923 to 1931.[
After completing his studies in Italy and at ]Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, Barzini Jr. worked for two New York newspapers, including the New York World
The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...
.[ In 1928, together with ]Richard Washburn Child
Richard Washburn Child (August 5, 1881 – January 31, 1935) was an American author and diplomat. Both during and after his service as United States Ambassador to Italy, he was a well-known promoter of fascism, in particular Italian Fascism, ...
, former Ambassador to Italy and a supporter of Benito Mussolini, he ghostwrote ''The Autobiography of Benito Mussolini''.[D'Agostino, ''Rome in America'']
pp. 163–64
/ref> He returned to Italy in 1930 to become a correspondent for ''Corriere della Sera''.[
His father, who was made senator in 1934, had pro- Fascist sentiments and had access to highest political circles of Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. Luigi Jr., however, frequently associated with the younger generation of fascists around ]Galeazzo Ciano
Gian Galeazzo Ciano, 2nd Count of Cortellazzo and Buccari ( , ; 18 March 1903 – 11 January 1944) was an Italian diplomat and politician who served as Foreign Minister in the government of his father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, from 1936 until 1 ...
, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mussolini's son-in-law.[
]
Panay incident
As the ''Corriere della Sera ''Asian correspondent, he went to China. On 11 December 1937, he was aboard the USS Panay on the Yangtze Patrol in Nanking
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
at the prompting of George Atcheson, a U.S. Embassy official. Also aboard were Universal News cameraman Norman Alley, Movietone News' Eric Mayell, the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
s Norman Soong, ''Collier's Weekly
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...
'' correspondent Jim Marshall, and '' La Stampa'' correspondent Sandro Sandri. Atcheson had invited them aboard the Panay so that they could document the fall of the city from relative safety. The four journalists had been covering the ongoing Japanese invasion of China in the mid-1930s, and found themselves in the thick of things in early December 1937 as Japanese forces moved on Nanking
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
.[Suddenly and Deliberately Attacked! The Story of the Panay Incident]
The USS Panay Memorial Website (Accessed 17 October 2010)
According to Alley, writing in his memoir ''I Witness'', Atcheson proclaimed that aboard the gunboat the group would be "as safe as you would be on good old American soil." Little did any of them know that in just a week's time, the Panay would be attacked and sunk, Sandri killed, and that they would witness the Rape of Nanking
The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...
.
During the attack Barzini, although wounded, performed heroically helping to bring the wounded ashore and providing first aid to the best of his ability. As Sandri, known as "the Floyd Gibbons of Italy,"[ was stretched out in the reeds with excruciatingly painful, fatal stomach wounds, Barzini could only comfort him with an occasional cigarette and a word from time to time. This episode of the incident was captured on Alley's and Mayell's cameras and in a 1937 Wide World Photos shot titled "Consoling dying Panay victim".
]
Banned by the Fascists
In April 1940, he was arrested on charges of leaking confidential information to the enemy and making disparaging remarks about Mussolini.[ He was confined by the Fascists to forced residence in a village for five years. In 1944, when Rome was liberated, he returned to journalism.
]
Journalism
In 1944 he resumed his journalistic career as the editor-in-chief of daily and weekly publications. He founded ''Il Globo
''Il Globo'' is an Italian language newspaper, published biweekly on Monday and Thursday in Melbourne, Australia. The newspaper's Sydney counterpart is ''La Fiamma''.
History
It was established in Melbourne by Tarcisio Valmorbida and Ubaldo Laro ...
''. Subsequently, he served in turn as the chief editor of several newspapers and magazines.
Parliamentarian
A staunch anti-Communist, he was a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical funct ...
from 1958 to 1972, for the centre-right Italian Liberal Party
The Italian Liberal Party ( it, Partito Liberale Italiano, PLI) was a liberal and conservative political party in Italy.
The PLI, which is the heir of the liberal currents of both the Historical Right and the Historical Left, was a minor part ...
(''Partito Liberale Italiano'' – PLI).[
]
Later life and family
He was the father of five children, and lived on a small farm near Rome, where he produced his own olive oil, wine, vegetables, and fruit. Barzini died in 1984 of cancer at his home in Rome.[Luigi Barzini, Italian Author, Dies At 75 In Rome]
Obituary, The New York Times, 1 April 1984 His son is the filmmaker Andrea Barzini
Andrea Barzini (born 14 December 1952) is an Italian film and television director, screenwriter and producer. He is the son of Italian journalist and politician Luigi Barzini Jr. and the father of Italian writer Chiara Barzini.
Filmography
* '' ...
and his granddaughter is the writer Chiara Barzini. His daughter Benedetta Benedetta is a feminine given name of Italian origin, the feminine equivalent of the masculine name Benedetto, a cognate of Benedict. Persons having the name include:
* Benedetta Barzini (contemporary), Italian actress and model
*Benedetta Bianchi ...
, by his first wife Giannalisa Feltrinelli, was a successful fashion model during the 1960s.[ The quote in the original Italian is: Abbiamo tirato fuori per esempio le foto della madre di Benedetta, chic, freddissima, upper class». La signora era Giannalisa Gianzana Feltrinelli (madre anche di Giangiacomo), il padre il giornalista Luigi Barzini jr.] His marriage to Feltrinelli also made him the stepfather of Italian publisher and left-wing political activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (; 19 June 1926 – 14 March 1972) was an influential Italian publisher, businessman, and political activist who was active in the period between the Second World War and Italy's Years of Lead. He founded a vast library o ...
,[ of whom Barzini eventually disapproved, saying that he thought Giangiacomo preferred the company of men who "despised the masses as he did, who thought them something they could play with."] Barzini also rejected as implausible conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
concerning Giangiacomo's death.
Works
*''Americans are Alone in the World'' (1953)
*''The Italians: A Full Length Portrait'' (1964)Reflections on the Italians
Time, 25 September 1964
*'' Die Italiener'', German Edition, Publisher: Heinrich Scheffler GmbH & Co., Frankfurt a. M. (1965)
*
From Caesar to the Mafia
' (1971)
*''O America When You and I were Young'' (1977)
*''The Europeans'' (1983)
References
Bibliography
*D'Agostino, Peter R. (2004).
Rome in America. Transnational Catholic Ideology from the Risorgimento to Fascism
', Chapell Hill (NC): University of North Carolina Press,
*Sarti, Roland (ed.) (2004).
Italy: a reference guide from the Renaissance to the present
', Infobase Publishing,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barzini, Luigi Jr.
1908 births
1984 deaths
Politicians from Milan
Italian anti-communists
Italian male journalists
Italian magazine editors
Italian Liberal Party politicians
20th-century Italian politicians
Columbia University alumni
Italian publishers (people)
Journalists from Milan