Guelfo Civinini (1 August 1873,Livorno – 10 April 1954,Rome)[1] was an Italian poet, playwright, novelist, journalist, critic, opera librettist, academic, military combatant, Western explorer, documentary filmmaker, and archaeologist. Best known internationally as the author of thelibretto forGiacomo Puccini's operaLa fanciulla del West (1910), Civinini began his career as a writer in the 1890s working as both a journalist and critic of literature and art for a variety of Italian newspapers and magazines. His first book of poetic verses,L'urna, was published in 1901 and was the recipient of a national literary prize. After this, he continued to work as a journalist and critic and publish and write poetry, but expanded his interests into writing numerous plays for theatres in Rome and Milan. In 1912 his novel,Gente di palude, was published. He was awarded several literary prizes, including theMussolini Prize for literature in 1933; theViareggio Prize in 1937; and theMarzotto Prize in 1953.
Civinini served as a "journalist-fighter", a term he coined, duringWorld War I; simultaneously working as awar correspondent for theCorriere della Sera and as a military combatant. He wrote about his experience as a 'journalist-fighter' in the non-fiction autobiographical bookViaggio intornoalla guerra: dall'Egeo al Baltico (1919, Milan). An ardent nationalist and politically outspoken, he was a supporter of firstGabriele D'Annunzio and theItalian Regency of Carnaro just after World War I; and later became a supporter ofBenito Mussolini as a member of theNational Fascist Party. However, his relationship with the fascist party in Italy soured duringWorld War II. Unhappy with the discriminatoryItalian racial laws passed by theItalian Social Republic and opposed to the nation's alliance withNazi Germany in thePact of Steel, Civinini distanced himself from the fascist party and, as a result, his works were banned from being sold by the government of the Italian Social Republic.
In addition to his work as a writer, Civinini embarked on several exploratory expeditions on the continent of Africa in the 1920s and 1930s; the most notable of which was a 1926 expedition whose purpose was to locate the body of Italian explorerVittorio Bottego. His experiences in Africa resulted in the publication of several auto-biographical non-fiction books and the creation of a documentary film in 1924. In 1934 he purchased theTower of Santa Liberata inMonte Argentario where he performed his own excavations which resulted in the discovery of the Villa Enobarbi built at the time of theRoman Empire. This archeologic work led to his election to the membership of theRoyal Academy of Italy, the highest society for academics in that nation, in 1939.
Born in Livorno, Guelfo Civinini was the son of Francesco and Quintilia Lazzerini; one of six children born to that couple.[1] Shortly after his birth, the family moved toGrosseto where his father died when Guelfo was three years old.[1] The death of his father left the family in difficult economic circumstances, and the family resided in the poorest regions in the Roman countryside at a time with those areas were plagued with outbreaks ofmalaria.[1] Of the six children in the family only Guelfo and his brother Ricciotto survived to adulthood.[1] These tragic childhood events later informed Civini's 1912 novelGente di palude with many of the illnesses and strifes of his upbringing inspiring the novel's events.[1]
At the age of 10, Guelfo moved with his family toRome after the marriage of his mother to his step-father.[1] There he was educated at the Liceo Umberto I underGiuseppe Chiarini. He began his career as a writer working as a journalist and both a literary and art critic for several publications in the 1890s, including the magazineIl Marzocco and the Rome newspaperLa Tribuna among others. He had his first major critical success with his poemGattacieca for which he won a national literary prize in 1906; an award adjudicated byGiovanni Verga,Luigi Capuana, andFederico De Roberto.[1]
As a poet, Civinini is sometimes included as part of the"crepuscolari" group of writers based on his workL'urna (1901); although this classification has been contested by some writers on Italian literature as his overall body of work is reminiscent of the style ofGabriele D'Annunzio andGiosuè Carducci while also displaying influences ofGiovanni Pascoli.[2] This work was his first publication of poetic verses.[1] After this he became a prolific playwright in the contemporary theatre scenes of Rome and Milan. His plays includedLa casa riconsacrata (1904),Il signor Dabbene (1906),Seguite poi da Notturno (1907),Bamboletta (1908),La regina (1910),Suor Speranza (1911),Ius primae noctis (1912),Il sangue (1922),Moscaio (1926),Rottami (1926), and the later workRipresa con il nuovo titolo Rancore (1948).[1]
Internationally he is best known for writing the Italian languagelibretto toGiacomo Puccini's operaLa fanciulla del West which premiered at theMetropolitan Opera in 1910.[3][2] The opera was adapted fromDavid Belasco's 1905 English language playThe Girl of the Golden West.[3] His output of literature also included books of poetry, non-fiction, and fiction; short stories; literary criticism, and plays. He was awarded several literary prizes, including theMussolini Prize for literature in 1933; theViareggio Prize in 1937; and theMarzotto prize in 1953.[1]
DuringWorld War I, Civinini was awar correspondent for theCorriere della Sera.[1] A believer in the "journalist-fighter", Civinini not only reported on the war but also participated as a combatant earning multiple military awards for bravery.[1] He chronicled his experiences as the "journalist-fighter' in World War I in the non-fiction auto-biographical workViaggio intornoalla guerra: dall'Egeo al Baltico (1919, Milan)[1]
At the end of the war, Civinini was a supporter ofGabriele D'Annunzio and theItalian Regency of Carnaro, and was appointed that organization's representative to Egypt. An ardent nationalist and supporter ofBenito Mussolini, he joined theNational Fascist Party in the spring of 1923. In 1925 he was one of the signers of theManifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals. Later, however, he became disillusioned with the party and Mussolini after the passing of theItalian racial laws which discriminated againstItalian Jews and thenative African inhabitants, and also opposed thePact of Steel in which Italy aligned itself withNazi Germany. At this point, he dissociated himself from Mussolini and the fascist party, so much so, that his books were banned for sale in 1944 by the government of theItalian Social Republic. Initially accused of wrong-doing by theCommissione di epurazione in 1945, an official anti-Italian Facisct commission equivalent to thedenazification tribunals in Germany following the Second World War, he was eventually cleared of all charges in 1948.[4]
In the years between World War I andWorld War II, Civinini embarked on several Western exploration expeditions on the continent of Africa; notably making the 1924 documentary filmAethiopia for theIstituto Luce. In 1926 he embarked on an expedition whose goal was to locate and recover the body of Italian explorerVittorio Bottego who had been murdered in 1897 while exploring regions unknown to the West in Africa. That expedition was largely funded byFrancesco Ruspoli, 8th Prince of Cerveteri who accompanied him on the journey. The men were successful at locating the area in which Bottego was killed and were shown a place where he was allegedly buried, but their excavations of the site never recovered Bottego's body. In 1935 he served in theSecond Italo-Ethiopian War as a volunteer and was awarded a war cross for military valor.[1] The search for Bottego was chronicled in the non-fiction bookUn viaggio attraverso l'Abissinia sulle orme di Vittorio Bottego (1951).[1] His other experiences in Africa were chronicled in the autobiographical worksSotto le piogge equatoriali (1930, Rome) andRicordi di carovana (1932, Milan).[1]
In 1930 Civinini moved from Rome to Florence where he resided, when not travelling, until 1952 when he moved to Viareggio. In 1934 he purchased theTower of Santa Liberata inMonte Argentario; a structure built by the Spanish in the 16th century. There he performed his own archaeological excavations which uncovered the Villa Enobarbi built at the time of theRoman Empire. In 1939 he was elected as a member of theRoyal Academy of Italy and was named "Honorary Inspector for Monuments, Excavations and Works of Antiquity and Art for Monteargentario and Orbetello" by that institution.
Civinini died in Rome on 10 April 1954, after suffering a stroke in 1953 which left him paralyzed.[1]
