Tommaso Besozzi

Tommaso Francesco Besozzi (20 January 1903 – 18 November 1964), also known as Tom, was an Italian journalist and writer. He is considered to be one of the most important post-war journalists of Italy and his writing style earned him the epithet "Hemingway of Europeo".

Early life

Born in Vigevano in Lombardy, northern Italy, in a rather affluent family, he was one of four children; one sister and two brothers, who both were killed in World War I.Tommaso Francesco Besozzi: Vigevano 20 gennaio 1903 – 18 novembre 1964
Viglevanum Nr. 13, 2003 He studied at university, first mathematics in Bologna and later at the Faculty of Arts in Pavia.

Journalistic career

He started to work as a journalist for the ''Corriere della Sera'' in 1926 in Milan. In 1937 he reported from Ethiopia after the Italian invasion and occupation.

In 1947 he moved to the weekly magazine ''L'Europeo'', for which he wrote important investigative reports. His style earned him the epithet “Hemingway of Europeo”.Besozzi. Vita agra di un cronista
Corriere della Sera, 12 May 1995
Rumour has it that when Hemingway was asked in the 1950s if an Italian Hemingway existed, he said: “You also have one who writes like me: Tommaso Besozzi."Cronache d'Africa di Tommaso Besozzi, l'Hemingway del nostro giornalismo
Corriere della Sera, 24 December 1999

In February 1947 he wrote a historical article on the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus, when Italian citizens were leaving Pola, when the regions of Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, were handed over to Yugoslavia after the Paris Peace Treaty.Petacco,
A tragedy revealed
', pp. 109-10

In 1948 he published an article in ''L'Europeo'', showing the misery and hunger of the people of Africo, in the Aspromonte mountains, in Calabria.Africo, emblema della disperazione
by Tommaso Besozzi, L’Europeo Nr. 12, March 1948 The article, entitled "Africo, symbol of disparity", and the series of documentary photographs by Tino Petrelli produced an outrage from national public opinion which, at the time, was rediscovering the dramatic situation of the " southern question".''Food and Fatness in Calabria'', by Vito Teti, i
Social Aspects of Obesity
edited by I. de Garine and Nancy J. Pollock, Routledge, 1995,

In July 1950, he wrote an article about the mysterious death of the Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano, shot and killed in Castelvetrano. According to the police, Giuliano died resisting arrest. However, Besozzi soon exposed the official version as fiction. The headline of the article read: "The only thing certain is that he is dead."Di sicuro c'è solo che è morto
by Tommaso Besozzi, L’Europeo, 12 July 1950''Tommaso Besozzi una vita in prima pagina''
review for Ordine dei Giornalisti, Consiglio Regionale della Lombardia The article established his name and is often mentioned as one of the examples of investigative journalism in Italy.

In the 1950s he returned to Africa as a special correspondent for ''L'Europeo'' and '' Gente''. His articles were later published in the book ''Il sogno del settimo viaggio'' (The dream of the seventh journey).

Death and legacy

Lonesome, victim of a writer’s block, he committed suicide with a homemade bomb on 18 November 1964 in Rome. He is considered to be one of the most important post-war journalists of Italy.L' Europeo, storia d' Italia
Corriere della Sera, 2 December 2005

Bibliography

* Mannucci, Enrico (ed.) (1995). ''I giornali non sono scarpe. Tommaso Besozzi una vita da prima pagina''. Baldini Castoldi Dalai, .
* Mannucci, Enrico (ed) (1999). ''Tommaso Besozzi. Il sogno del settimo viaggio''. Rome: Fazi, .

References

*Petacco, Arrigo (2005).
A tragedy revealed: the story of the Italian population of Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1943-1956
', University of Toronto Press,

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Besozzi, Tommaso
1903 births
1964 deaths
Italian male journalists
20th-century Italian journalists
1964 suicides
20th-century Italian male writers
Suicides by explosive device
Suicides in Italy