Salvator Gotta (or Salvatore Gotta) (18 May 1887 – 7 June 1980) was an Italian writer. He was best known as a prolific novelist, but he was also a biographer, playwright, screenplay writer, and writer of children's books.

Life and work

Gotta was born on the 18 May 1887 in

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, Italy. He graduated from 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 ...

, and his literary career started with the publication of ''Pia'' in 1912. Other novels followed, and in 1917 he started on the trilogy ''La saga dei Vela'', which was to become his best known work. During the

first world war World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served in the

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 ...

Corps, and from this experience in 1926 he wrote the children's novel ''Il piccolo Alpino'' (''The little Alpino''), which was very successful and inspired the 1986 Italian TV mini-series ''

Mino Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * Mi ...

''. Gotta joined the

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. The ...

at an early stage, and in 1925 he wrote the words of the official Fascist anthem

Giovinezza "Giovinezza" ( – ) is the official hymn of the Italian National Fascist Party, regime, and army, and was an unofficial national anthem of the Kingdom of Italy between 1924 and 1943.Farrell, Nicholas. 2005. ''Mussolini: a New Life''. Sterling Pub ...

("Youth"). He praised the fascists in several of his works, such as ''Mistica Patria'' (Mystic Country), of 1932. He wrote film screenplays and stage plays, such as ''Mille lire'' (1923) and ''La damigella di Bard'' (1936). He continued to write novels after the second world war, but his works from this period are now little remembered, and many of his works were allowed to go out of print because of his Fascist associations. However, he had some popularity among teenagers in the 1960s and 1970s for his historical novels and a column he wrote in the magazine ''

Topolino ''Topolino'' (from the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) is an Italian digest-sized comic series featuring Disney comics. The series has had a long running history, first appearing in 1932 as a comics magazine. It is currently published by Panini ...

''. Gotta was influenced by the realists, and by

Antonio Fogazzaro Antonio Fogazzaro (; 25 March 1842 – 7 March 1911) was an Italian novelist and proponent of Liberal Catholicism. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times. Biography Fogazzaro was born in Vicenza to a wealthy family. In ...

. Gotta and Fogazzaro were both published by ''Baldini & Castoldi''. Gotta wrote his autobiography, ''L'almanacco di Gotta'' ("Gotta's Almanac"). He died on the 7 June 1980 at

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, located in the Liguria region of northern Italy. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and Chiavar ...

in the

province of Genoa The Province of Genoa (Italian ''Provincia di Genova'') was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa. Overview It has an area of and a total population of about ...

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 ...

, Italy.

Selected filmography

* ''

Cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

'' (1936) * '' Goodbye Youth'' (1940)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotta, Salvator 1887 births 1980 deaths Italian children's writers Italian biographers Male biographers Italian male non-fiction writers