Elio Filippo Accrocca
Elio Filippo Accrocca was an Italian poet and educator, born in Cori and later raised in Rome. He graduated from the University of Rome in 1947, with his early poetry reflecting the harsh realities of World War II, particularly in his first collection, *Portonaccio*, published in 1949. This work, along with his subsequent volumes, is significant within the neorealistic literary movement, characterized by its stark and honest portrayal of social conditions post-war. As Italy recovered from its postwar struggles, Accrocca shifted his focus away from neorealism, exploring various poetic styles influenced by broader, international themes.
Tragedy profoundly impacted Accrocca’s later work, especially after the death of his only child in 1973, leading him to explore themes of death and introspection. The passing of his wife in 1983 further deepened this introspective turn in his poetry. Despite personal losses, he continued to write prolifically and expanded his artistic expression by integrating diverse media, including Chinese ideograms and technology. Accrocca’s contributions to poetry were recognized with several awards, including the Premio Tagliacozza and the Premio Internazionale Taormina, affirming his legacy as a transformative voice in contemporary Italian literature.
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Elio Filippo Accrocca
Poet
- Born: April 17, 1923
- Birthplace: Cori, Italy
- Died: 1996
- Place of death: Rome, Italy
Biography
Elio Filippo Accrocca was born in Cori but spent his formative years in Rome after his father, a railway employee, moved the family to the Italian capital. Accrocca graduated from the University of Rome in 1947, and World War II provided the backdrop for his early poetry. In 1949, he published the collection Portonaccio, which included poems Accrocca had written the five preceding years, during which his homeland had provided the setting for some of World War II’s bloodiest battles. Like that of many of his contemporaries, Accrocca’s postwar artistic expression was notable for its unvarnished, unsentimental examination of social conditions, and Portonaccio and the two poetry volumes that followed figure as important works in the neorealistic school.
As Italy began to emerge from its postwar depression in the late 1950’s, however, Accrocca abandoned neorealism, looking outside his own country for subject matter and turning to a range of poetic styles. This period of extroversion ended abruptly in 1973 with the death of his only child, Stefano, as the result of an automobile accident. From that time forward, Accrocca when he could write at all devoted himself to meditations on death and other introspective subject matter. This orientation was only reinforced with the death in 1983 of his wife of thirty-three years, Adriana. Accrocca remained prolific to the end, but as one of his critics has noted, his later works were drawn, “almost exclusively from his reservoir of memories.” In addition to his writing, Accrocca had a career as an educator, working as an art history instructor and academic administrator until 1982. In 1974, he received the Premio Tagliacozza for Siamo, non siamo. The Premio Internazionale Taormina followed a decade later, honoring the experimental collection Videogrammi della prolunga, which includes works incorporating personal videotapes. Today he is remembered not only for his prodigious output but for his expansion of the poetic vocabulary through his use of such disparate media as Chinese ideograms and the latest technology as means of self-expression.