Piero Chiara
Piero Chiara was an Italian author known for his engaging storytelling and distinctive literary style, shaped by his mixed heritage and upbringing in northern Italy near the Swiss border. His formal education concluded in middle school, but he developed a passion for literature by immersing himself in the works of renowned writers while working various jobs. Chiara's anti-Fascist beliefs led to his flight to Switzerland during World War II, where he taught and married Jula Scherb, with whom he had a son. After returning to Italy in 1943, he left government service in 1945 to focus on writing, using a unique approach that emphasized the reactions of others and the significance of memory. His characters, often relatable and humorously portrayed, reflect the complexities of everyday life, contributing to his popularity in postwar Italy. Chiara's works, which included adaptations for film and television, earned him several literary awards, highlighting his critical acclaim as well as his impact on Italian literature. His exploration of Giacomo Casanova's literary contributions also brought him international recognition as a critic.
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Subject Terms
Piero Chiara
Writer
- Born: March 23, 1913
- Birthplace: Luino, Varese, Lombardy, Italy
- Died: December 31, 1986
- Place of death: Varese, Varese, Lombardy, Italy
Biography
Piero Chiara was the product of a racially mixed marriage between a southern Italian man and woman from northern Italy. Chiara was raised as a Lombard, and he grew up in the northernmost part of Italy, on the Swiss border. This backdrop helped to define both his character and his writing. Chiara’s formal education ended in middle school, but after he dropped out of school and began working odd jobs he steeped himself in the work of great writers from all over the globe. In 1931 he began working as a government clerk, and to escape the tedium of his job, he began writing. During World War II, Chiara, an ardent anti-Fascist, was forced to flee to Switzerland, where he taught school and married a Swiss woman named Jula Scherb, with whom he had his only child, Marco. The couple would divorce in 1972, and in 1975 Chiara married Irma Buzzetti. After his Swiss idyl, in 1943 Chiara returned to Italy and to government service, but he quit his job in 1945 so that he could devote himself to his writing full time. In early days, Chiara liked to indulge his natural gift for storytelling by dictating to a secretary. For Chiara, and for many of his small-town heroes, storytelling is the only means of escaping a quotidian existence. Ironic and humorous, Chiara created characters not by following their actions but by recording the reactions of others and by exploring each character’s memory. One of the central tenets of Chiara’s works is that only memory makes life bearable; it provides the detachment and objectivity essential to achieving balance. Chiara always maintained that he was a fantasist whose stories had no basis in reality, but his gift for relaying realistic details allows readers to see themselves in Chiara’s protagonists and helps explain why he was among the most popular writers of postwar Italy. Many of his stories were adapted for the large and small screen. In addition, his writing about the literary works of Giacomo Casanova won him international acclaim as a critic. During his long and productive lifetime, he won numerous prizes, including the Campiello in 1964 and the Bancarella in 1979.
