Mario Rigoni Stern (1 November 1921 – 16 June 2008) was an Italian author and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran.Morto scrittore Mario Rigoni Stern
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Biography

He was born and grew up on the Asiago plateau in North East Italy. In 1938, after being rejected for service in the Navy, he enrolled in the tough

Alpini The Alpini are the Italian Army's specialist mountain infantry. Part of the army's infantry corps, the speciality distinguished itself in combat during World War I and World War II. Currently the active Alpini units are organized in two operatio ...

advanced climbing/alpinism course in the Aosta Valley where Renato Chabod was among his teachers. Only four students graduated in that year. When German troops marched on Paris, his

regiment was ordered to invade France from the Aosta Valley over the Little Saint Bernard Pass, a fairly disastrous foray that he later described in the first part of his novel ''Quota Albania''. He would then join Mussolini's equally disastrous attempt to take Albania and Greece, events which are detailed later in the book. His first novel ''Il sergente nella neve'', published in 1953 (and the following year in English as ''The Sergeant in the Snow''), draws on his own experience as a

sergeant major Sergeant major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. History In 16th century Spain, the ("sergeant major") was a general officer. He commanded an army's infantry, and ranked about third in the ...

in the

corps during the disastrous retreat from Russia in World War II. It is his only work to be translated into English and Spanish. He would later say that having managed to make it back to Italy with all 70 of the men under his command was his finest achievement. Other well-known works also include ''Le stagioni di Giacomo'' (Giacomo's Seasons), ''Storia di Tönle'' (The Story of Tönle), and the collection of short stories ''Sentieri sotto la neve'' (Paths Beneath the Snow). His novels which are strongly autobiographical are strongly rooted the natural world with acute observations about life and wildlife in the mountains. Rigoni Stern was an enthusiastic mountaineer and hunter with an acute sense of the wonder of the natural world, an aspect best exemplified by his novel ''Il bosco degli urogalli'' (The Wood of the Black Grouse).

Awards and honors

* He was awarded 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 ...

and the

Premio Bagutta The Bagutta Prize is an Italian literature, 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 regul ...

for ''Storia di Tönle'', and the Italian PEN prize for ''Sentieri sotto la neve''. * Asteroid

12811 Rigonistern 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 1 May 2003 (). * The silver medal for the Russian Campaign

Works

* ''Il sergente nella neve'' (1953), translated into English as ''The Sergeant in the Snow'' (1954) * ''Il bosco degli urogalli'' (1962) * ''Quota Albania'' (1971) * ''Ritorno sul Don'' (1973) * ''Storia di Tönle'' (1978), translated into English as ''The Story of Tonle'' (1998, 2012) * ''Uomini, boschi e api'' (1980) * ''L'anno della vittoria'' (1985) * ''Amore di confine'' (1986) * ''Arboreto salvatico'' (1991) * ''Le stagioni di Giacomo'' (1995) * ''Sentieri sotto la neve'' (1998) * ''Inverni lontani'' (1999) * ''Tra due guerre e altre storie'' (2000) * ''L'ultima partita a carte'' (2002) * ''Stagioni'' (2006)

References

1921 births 2008 deaths People from Asiago Alpini Italian soldiers Italian military personnel of World War II Premio Campiello winners 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian novelists 21st-century Italian male writers {{Italy-mil-bio-stub