Luigi Bertelli (19 March 1860 - 27 November 1920), best known as Vamba, was an Italian writer, illustrator and journalist. Born in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, having completed his studies Bertelli became a railway employer, working first in

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and later in Foggia. He later started collaborating with the Roman newspaper ''Capitan Fracassa'' and in 1884 he was officially employed as a journalist and caricaturist. He soon adopted the pseudonym "Vamba", named after the clown of

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

's '' Ivanhoe''. After collaborating with several newspapers, in 1890 he founded and directed ''L'O di Giotto'', a newspaper close to the radical political positions of

Felice Cavallotti Felice Cavallotti (6 November 1842 – 6 March 1898) was an Italian politician, poet and dramatic author. Biography Early career Born in Milan, Cavallotti fought with the Garibaldian Corps in their 1860 and 1866 campaigns during the Italian ...

, and in 1901 he co-founded the regional newspaper ''Il Bruscolo''. Best known as a children's author, in 1893 Vamba wrote his first pedagogical novel, ''Ciondolino'', and in 1906 he founded and directed until 1911 the nonconformist children magazine '' Il giornalino della Domenica''. Here, he released in sequential installments his best known novel, '' Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca'', the pedagogical and humorous story of a lively 9 year old. In the summer of 1920 he fell ill, dying on 27 November 1920. A funerary monument made by the sculptor Libero Andreotti was inaugurated in Florence on 14 January 1923.

References

* Lea Nissim Rossi. ''Vamba: Luigi Bertelli''. Le Monnier, 1954. * Armando Michieli. ''Vamba''. La Scuola, 1965. * Lea Nissim Rossi. ''Luigi Bertelli (Vamba)''. Mondadori Education, 1967. . * Anna Ascenzi, Maila Di Felice, Raffaele Tumino. ''Santa giovinezza!: lettere di Luigi Bertelli e dei suoi corrispondenti, 1883-1920''. Alfabetica Edizioni, 2008. . * Roberta Anau. ''Gian Burrasca. Ragazzi di marzapane e cervello di crema. La cucina di Vamba''. Il leone verde edizioni, 2010. . {{Authority control 1858 births Writers from Florence 1920 deaths Journalists from Florence Italian male journalists 19th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian novelists Italian male novelists Italian caricaturists Italian children's book illustrators Italian children's writers 19th-century Italian male writers 20th-century Italian male writers Italian magazine founders

References

Further reading