Giovanni Raboni
Giovanni Raboni was a prominent Italian poet born on January 22, 1932, in Milan, Lombardy. He initially trained as a lawyer but transitioned to a career in publishing during the mid-1960s, where he worked for several significant Italian publishing houses. Raboni was part of the Linea lombarda, a poetic movement that emerged in the early 1950s, which sought to break away from the insular style of hermeticism by embracing themes from everyday life and the surrounding landscape. Throughout his career, he also contributed to theater criticism, translated works from notable French authors, and played an editorial role in various literary publications, including Paragone magazine. Although he published relatively few poetry collections, his work garnered critical acclaim, culminating in the Premio Viareggio award for his 1993 collection "Ogni terzo pensiero." His collected poems were published posthumously in 1997, reflecting his contributions to contemporary Italian poetry. Raboni passed away on September 16, 2004, in Parma, Italy, leaving a lasting legacy in the literary world.
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Giovanni Raboni
Poet
- Born: January 22, 1932
- Birthplace: Milan, Italy
- Died: September 16, 2004
- Place of death: Parma, Italy
Biography
Poet Giovanni Raboni was born on January 22, 1932, in Milan, Lombardy, Italy, and he expressed his feelings for that city and for the province of Lombardy in much of his poetry. He initially pursued a legal career and practiced law until the mid- 1960’s, when he began working as an editor at an Italian publishing house. During the remainder of his career, Raboni worked for several top Italian publishers. At the same time, he wrote poetry and theater criticism, served on the editorial board of Paragone magazine, and became vice president of the Fondo Associazione Pier Paolo Pasolini. He also translated literary works into Italian, including books by French authors Marcel Proust, Charles Baudelaire, and Gustave Flaubert.
Raboni was one of the leading members of an Italian school of poetry known as Linea lombarda (Lombard line) which emerged in the early 1950’s. These poets rebelled against hermeticism, an earlier school of Italian poetry, for its emphasis on a self-enclosed poetic style. The Linea lombarda poets chose to depict a wider world, writing about everyday life, objects, and the landscape. Although he published relatively few poetry collections in his lifetime, Raboni’s work was critically praised and an influential part of the Linea lombarda movement. He won the Premio Viareggio for his 1993 collection Ogni terzo pensiero.
In the late 1980’s, Raboni suffered a near-fatal heart attack. In 1997, his collected poems were published as Tutti le poesie, 1951-1993. He died in Parma, Italy, on September 16, 2004.