Abruzzo - The Culture

There are many important characters that played a major role in the history and culture of Abruzzo and also in the Italian culture. Here are a few of them:

Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio was a writer and a poet, but also a military officer and a politician, an important figure of the Italian culture and mostly of Abruzzo's culture. He was born in 1863 at Pescara; he had a major contribution to the literature: its most important works were: Il Piacere, L'Innocente, Il Trionfo della Morte, the 18 novels Le Novelle della Pescara. His works show a real interest towards the violence, the sensuality and the erotism. During the First World War he signed up as a volunteer, proving an immense courage and determination. At the end of the war he retired to his famous villa at Gardone Riviera, continuing to dedicate himself to the literature and showing interest in the development of the fascist movement.

Ignazio Silone

Born in 1900 at Pescina, in the Province of Aquila, Ignazio Silone was a writer and a politician, as D'Annunzio. His most famous novel Fontamara, whose action unfolds in Abruzzo's mountains, tells the story of a little village called Fontamara, together with its inhabitants, that every year, generation after generation, are meant to lead a life that totally excludes the mechanisms of modernity and urbanisation. Despite the simple language used, the novel wants to be a report against the authority, against the power and the new Fascist regime, that already in the beginning of the 1900 was renowned for its violence and repression episodes.

Benedetto Croce

Born in 1866 in Pescasseroli, in the Province of Aquila, was a historian, humanist, and foremost Italian philosopher of the first half of the 20 the century. In his works on aesthetics Croce held that an artist's mental images, communicated by physical artefacts, constitute works of art. Viewing history as an interpretation of the past, he argued that history is not only a form of thought but the culmination of philosophy. The general title of the work presenting his system is Philosophy of the Spirit (1902-17; tr. 1909-21), which is divided into four parts, Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic, Logic as the Science of Pure Concept, Philosophy of the Practical, and History: Its Theory and Practice.

Ennio Flaiano

Born in 1910 at Pescara, Ennio Flaiano was a screenwriter, playwright, novelist, journalist and drama critic. He is best known for his work with Federico Fellini. Flaiano wrote for Cineillustrato, Oggi, Il Mondo, Il Corriere della Sera and other prominent Italian newspapers and magazines. In 1971 he suffered a first heart-attack. He put his many papers in order and published them, but a great part of his memories will be published posthumously. In November 1972 he started publishing on Corriere della Sera some autobiographical pieces. November 20 of the same year, whilst at a clinic for a check-up, he suffered a second heart failure. Flaiano was a popular screenwriter and collaborated in many important movies, among which the following should be rememberd: Roma città libera (1948), Guardie e ladri (1951), La romana (1954), Peccato che sia una canaglia (1955), La notte (1961), Fantasmi a Roma (1961), La decima vittima (1965), La cagna (1972). With Tullio Pinelli, he co-wrote the screenplays for ten films by Federico Fellini: Variety Lights (1950), The White Sheik (1952), I vitelloni (1953), La Strada (1954), Il Bidone (1955), Le notti di Cabiria (1957), La dolce vita (1960), The Temptations of Doctor Antonio episode in Boccaccio '70 (1962) and Juliet of the Spirits (1965).