Anna Banti (bornLucia Lopresti; 27 June 1895 – 2 September 1985) was an Italian writer, art historian, critic, and translator.

Banti was born inFlorence. In her youth she spent time inRome, attending theUniversity of Rome andBologna before returning permanently toFlorence. At the university, she received a degree in art history. Her pseudonym derived from "an exceptionally beautiful woman" she knew in her youth. She married art criticRoberto Longhi and in 1950 they founded and edited the bi-monthly art magazineParagone.^[1]

Banti published a number of stories over the next decades, among which the novella,Lavinia fuggita,^[2] remains important for its close thematic relationship to her well- known historical novel,Artemisia, based on the painterArtemisia Gentileschi. So identified was Banti with the painter, that one newspaper headlined their report of Banti's death asAddio, Artemisia.^[3] The novel revived interest in Gentileschi's work and life.^[4]

Banti's autobiographical work,Un Grido Lacerante, published in 1981, won the Antonio Feltrinelli Prize.^[5]

As well as being a successful author, Banti is recognized as a literary, cinematic, and art critic.^[6] After the death of Longhi in 1970, she replaced him as the editor ofParagone.^[7]

Banti died on 2 September 1985 inMassa, and is buried atCimitero degli Allori in Florence.

• Artemisia (1988) Translated and with an afterword by Shirley D'Ardia Caracciolo. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.

• Artemisia (1989) -- Selections from the novel. Translated by Joan E. Borrelli inLongman Anthology of World Literature by Women, 1875-1975, edited by Marian Arkin and Barbara Shollar. New York: Longman, pp. 340-343.

• "The Courage of Women" (1989) (fromIl coraggio delle donne) Translated by Martha J. King inNew Italian Women: a collection of short fiction, edited by Martha King. New York: Italica Press.

• "After Lavinia's Flight" (1991) (Lavinia fuggita) Translated from the Italian by Joan E. Borrelli inTranslation: The Journal of Literary Translation. Columbia University, Volume 25, No. 2, Spring 1991, pp. 241-271.

• A Piercing Cry (1997) (Un grido lacerante) Translated by Daria Valentini and S. Mark Lewis. New York: Peter Lang, Inc.

• "The Signorina" and Other Stories (2001) ("La signorina" e altri racconti) Translated by Martha J. King and Carol Lazzaro-Weiss. New York: Modern Language Association of America.

• Yes, Madam (1942)

• 1972Bagutta Prize

• 1895 births
• 1985 deaths
• Writers from Florence
• Italian art historians
• Italian art critics
• Italian women art critics
• Italian magazine editors
• Italian women novelists
• Italian women art historians
• 20th-century Italian novelists
• 20th-century Italian women writers
• 20th-century Italian translators
• Literary translators
• Italian women magazine editors

• Articles with short description
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