''The Little World of the Past'' (Italian:''Piccolo mondo antico'') is an 1895 novel by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

writer

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 ...

. It was the author's most successful work, considered to be his "

masterpiece A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

". Fogazzaro finished the first draft in 1884, and spent the next decade revising it. The novel has an

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

backdrop, and is set in the 1850s during the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

. Fogazzaro modelled the two protagonists after his parents. The novel is also known in English under the titles ''Little Ancient World'' and ''The Patriot''.

Film adaptation

In 1941, during the Fascist era, the novel was adapted into a film ''

Piccolo mondo antico ''Piccolo mondo antico'' (literally: Little Ancient World), known in English as ''Old-Fashioned World '', is a 1941 Italian drama film directed by Mario Soldati and based on the 1895 novel by Antonio Fogazzaro. It belongs to the movies of the c ...

'' directed by

Mario Soldati Mario Soldati (17 November 1906 – 19 June 1999) was an cinema of Italy, Italian writer and film director. In 1954 he won the Strega Prize for ''Lettere da Capri.'' He directed several works adapted from novels, and worked with leading Ital ...

and starring

Alida Valli Alida Maria Laura, ''Freiin'' Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg (31 May 1921 – 22 April 2006), better known by her stage name Alida Valli (or simply Valli), was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, s ...

and

Massimo Serato Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in ...

. The film was extremely popular, and came to be seen as a precursor of neorealism.Marrone p.747

References

Bibliography

* Brand, Peter & Pertile, Lino. ''The Cambridge History of Italian Literature''. Cambridge University Press, 1999. * Marrone, Gaetana. ''Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies: A-J''. Taylor & Francis, 2007.

External links

The Patriot (Piccolo Mondo Antico) by Antonio Fogazzaro
on

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a Virtual volunteering, volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the ...

1895 novels 19th-century Italian novels Novels set in Italy Novels by Antonio Fogazzaro Italian novels adapted into films Novels set in the 1850s {{Europe-novel-stub