Franco Fortini
Franco Fortini, originally named Franco Lattes, was a notable Italian poet and political activist born on September 10, 1917, in Florence. He was raised in a mixed-religion household, which influenced his identity and cultural engagement throughout his life. To navigate discrimination, particularly during World War II, he adopted his mother’s maiden name and later converted to the Waldensian Church. Fortini served in the Italian military until Italy's armistice in 1943, after which he fled to Switzerland and became actively involved with the Italian Socialist party, even contributing to its newspaper, Avanti!.
Settling in Milan, he dedicated himself to writing, contributing to various political journals and engaging with the literary community through poetry. Influenced by the hermetic tradition, he explored themes of love while also drawing inspiration from various existentialist writers. His political stance was consistently anti-capitalist, and he maintained a commitment to the oppressed, especially during significant global events like the Vietnam War. Fortini's legacy is marked by his unique blend of literary innovation and fervent political activism, reflecting the complexities of his time.
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Subject Terms
Franco Fortini
Author
- Born: September 10, 1917
- Birthplace: Florence, Italy
- Died: November 28, 1994
- Place of death: Milan, Italy
Biography
Franco Fortini was born Franco Lattes on September 10, 1917, in Florence, Italy, to a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. In 1939, the thirty-year-old poet would adopt his mother’s maiden name to avoid discrimination, thus shaping his identity in the literary, cultural, and political circles of Milan. Before he left home, Fortini experienced other kinds of challenges. In addition to studies in the figurative arts, a graduate thesis on Rosso Fiorentino, and studies in law, Fortini would face a life-threatening illness, undergo a serious operation, and, with his parents, face ongoing financial crises.
Later in 1939, Fortini was baptized in the Waldensian Church. While he served in the Italian military during World War II, he did so only until September 8, 1943, then fled to Switzerland and joined the Italian Socialist party there in 1944. Although he would avidly engage in the party’s activities, writing for Avanti!—the party’s paper—Fortini would later leave the party (in 1957).
Fortini moved to Milan, where he would live for the rest of his life, continuing to contribute to other political journals. He began sending poetry to literary magazines as well. He was an editor for Politecnico from 1945 to 1947 who stayed attuned to the political movement (rejecting the notion, for instance, of reconciliation of any kind between the Fascists and anti-Fascists). Fortini also worked to develop his poetry in the hermetic tradition. The literati of the period focused on this style, with its themes of love and love lost. At the same time, he was influenced by poets stepping outside the hermetic milieu, such as Giacomo Noventa, and ascetic and moral writers. Fortini familiarized himself with the religious existentialist movement as it existed in the work of such writers as Karl Barth, Nikolay Berdyayev, Karl Jaspers, and Søren Kierkegaard.
While Fortini and his work departed from the hermetic vision, moving into areas of more linguistic emphasis, he continued to keep a stance that was adamantly anticapitalist. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, for instance, his approach to the Vietnam War was one of “quiet” communism; after the collapse of the Soviet Union, his position remained as one of the watchdog for the oppressed.