Gianna Manzini (1896–1974)

Gianna Manzini was born in Pistoia, Italy. Her parents were Leonilda Mazzoncini and Giuseppe Manzini, a committed anarchist, who was sent into internal exile by the Fascist government and then died in prison in 1925. She moved to Florence with her mother and developed a great love for the art, architecture, and cultural life of the city. She graduated from the University of Florence with a degree in modern literature and became a teacher, but only for a short time. She began writing for the journals Solaria and Letteratura and for the newspaper La Nazione. She published her debut novel, Tempo inamorato (The Time of Love), in 1928. After her first marriage to journalist Bruno Fallaci ended in 1933, she moved to Rome, where she entered into a professional and romantic relationship with the literary critic Enrico Falqui. After World War II, she became editorial director of Prosa, a journal that promoted contemporary fiction from around the world. She published novels, short stories, and essays throughout her life. She won the Premio Viareggio for her autobiographical novel La Sparviera (The Sparrow Hawk, 1956). Her best-known work may be In Ritratto in piedi (Full-Length Portrait, 1971), about her parents and childhood, which won the Premio Campiello.