Antonio Pizzuto

Antonio Pizzuto (14 May 1893 – 23 November 1976) was an Italian writer and translator.

Biography

Antonio (anagrammatically Antonino) Pizzuto was born in Palermo into a wealthy and learned family, consisting of his father Giovanni, a lawyer and landowner, and his mother Maria, a poetess. His studies began at the Vittorino da Feltre school and continued at the Meli grammar school and the Vittorio Emanuele II high school, where he had the opportunity to meet Salvatore Spinelli. In 1915 he graduated in Law and in 1918 he was enlisted, with the rank of Deputy Commissioner, in the State Police. In 1922 he graduated in Philosophy, with a thesis on Hume's scepticism, inspired by Cosmo Guastella's ‘phenomenalism’.

In 1930 he was called to Rome, to the Ministry of the Interior, with assignments in the International Police (the future Interpol) that took him to various European countries (Austria, France, England, Germany, Denmark, Romania) and to the United States. He represented the Italian police at Reinhard Heydrich's funeral; on that occasion he was given a tour of the Oranienburg concentration camp. After the war, he was vice-quaestor of Trento, quaestor of Bolzano and of Arezzo. In 1950 he retired, taking up residence in Rome. A translator from Greek and Latin, Pizzuto was also a profound connoisseur of English, French and German, from which he translated Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals by Kant. He also wrote several novels. He began his career as a storyteller in 1912, when he published the novella Rosalia. In 1938, under the pseudonym "Heis", he published his first novel, the autobiographical On the Bridge of Avignon. His true emergence as a writer only came after retirement, with the writing of Memoirs of a Quaestor and the novel Così, and with collaborations with the periodical Polizia Moderna, for which he wrote short stories and essays, and with the philosophical magazine Sophia, where he published reviews and translations. In 1959 he republished Signorina Rosina (which had already published in 1956) thanks to the support of Romano Bilenchi and Mario Luzi.

His writings are rich in cultured quotations and lexical novelties and gradually free themselves from the temporal, syntactic and grammatical rules that characterise historical documentation. He also reproduces the stream of consciousness, already employed by many 20th century writers. His work was appreciated, among others, by the philologist and critic Gianfranco Contini, to whom he was bound by a deep friendship.

Works

• Sul ponte di Avignone (1938)
• Signorina Rosina (1956, 1959)
• Si riparano bambole (1960)
• Ravenna (1962)
• Il triciclo (1962)
• Paginette (1964)
• Sinfonia (1966)
• Natalizia (1966)
• La bicicletta (1966)
• Vezzolanica (1967)
• Nuove paginette (1967)
• Testamento (1969)
• Pagelle I (1973)
• Pagelle II (1975)
• Giunte e virgole (1975)
• Ultime e penultime (1978)
• Giunte e virgole (1996)
• Rapin e Rapier (1998)
• Così (postuma), 1998
• Spegnere le caldaie (1999)
• Narrare (1999)
• Sinfonia 1923 (2005)
• Giunte e Caldaie (2008)
• Sinfonia (1927) (2009)
• Sullo scetticismo di Hume (2020)

References

Accame, Felice (2017). Lettere di Antonio Pizzuto a Felice Accame annotate e commentate dal destinatario. Milano: La Vita Felice.

Alvino, Gualberto (1993). "Nove pagelle inedite di Antonio Pizzuto," Studi di Filologia Italiana, Vol. LI, pp. 255–72.

Alvino, Gualberto (1999). Caro testatore, carissimo padrino: lettere (1966-1976) / Giovanni Nencioni, Antonio Pizzuto. Firenze: Polistampa.

Alvino, Gualberto (2000). Coup de foudre: lettere (1963-1976). Gianfranco Contini, Antonio Pizzuto. Firenze: Polistampa.

Alvino, Gualberto (2000). Chi ha paura di Antonio Pizzuto? Saggi, note, riflessioni. Firenze: Polistampa.

Alvino, Gualberto (2024). Scritture verticali. Pizzuto, D'Arrigo, Consolo, Bufalino. Roma: Carocci editore.

Arnone, Vincenzo (1979). L'avanguardia perenne di Antonio Pizzuto. Palermo: Herbita.

Barile, Laura (1986). "Piccolo omaggio a Pizzuto," Autografo, Vol. III, No. 7, pp. 44–61.

Borlenghi, Aldo (1967). "Sinfonia di Antonio Pizzuto," L'approdo letterario, Anno XIII, No. 37, pp. 115–16.

Briganti, Alessandra (1979). "Pizzuto, Antonio." In: Enciclopedia Italiana, IV Appendice. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.

Ferraris, Denis (1985). Ébauche d'une poétique de la discrétion: à pròpos de Sul ponte di Avignone de Antonio Pizzuto. Randazzo: Comune.

Fo, Alessandro; Antonio Pane (2002). L'oboe e il clarino: carteggio 1965-1969 / Antonio Pizzuto, Lucio Piccolo. Milano: Libri Scheiwiller.

Galvagno, Rosalba (1990). Pizzuto e lo spazio della scrittura. Messina: Sicania.

Galvagno, Rosalba (2015). "Pizzuto, Antonio." In: Dizionario biografico degli italiani, Vol. 84. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.

Jacobbi, Ruggero (1971). Antonio Pizzuto. Firenze: La nuova Italia.

Pane, Antonio (1999). Il leggibile Pizzuto. Firenze: Polistampa.

Pane, Antonio (2007). L'ultima è sempre la migliore: carteggio, 1967-1975 / Antonio Pizzuto, Alberto Mondadori; con le lettere di Antonio Pizzuto a Madeleine Santschi e Pierre Graff, 1968-1976. Firenze: Polistampa.

Panieri, Benedetta (2008). Antonio Pizzuto nel regno del tempo. Bologna: Gedit.

Peritore, Giuseppe Angelo (1968). "Antonio Pizzuto," Belfagor, Anno XXIII, No. 4, pp. 451–72.

Santschi, Madeleine (1986). Portrait d'Antonio Pizzuto. Lausanne: L'age d'homme.

Scheiwiller, Vanni (2002). Saluti di corsa: lettere a Antonio Pizzuto e altre carte da un'amicizia. Arezzo: Edizioni degli Amici.

External links

• Works by Antonio Pizzuto at Open Library