Pacifico Fiori (1898 – late 20th century) was an Italian writer, journalist and playwright, renowned particularly as a novelist.
Biography
Born in 1898 in Calalzo di Cadore,[1] a small town in Italian region of Veneto, Fiori moved to Milan where he began his journalistic career in 1921, collaborating with the humor magazine Barbapedana (1921–1923), with Cacciatore Italiano (a periodical of which he was also the editor-in-chief until its closure)[2] and, from 1924, with the satirical weekly Il Guerrin Meschino. In 1926, he joined the main Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, where he remained for nineteen years and then also wrote for the Corriere d'Informazione, la Domenica del Corriere, Corriere dei Piccoli, La Lettura (1937–1945), and Fantasie d'Italia.[1][3][4][5]
In 1943, Fiori published his first detective novel, Colpa segreta,[6] followed by Il filone d'oro and Lo smeraldo di Maria Antonietta in 1944. The following year, he released the novel La squadra fantasma, illustrated by Carlo Cossio,[7] and in 1946, Entro il sei Marzo, published in the I romanzi dell'avventura series by Edizioni Alpe directed by Romualdo Natoli (previously published in 1943 in la Domenica del Corriere[8]).[9]
From the forties onwards, he was also prolific as a playwright. In 1946, he wrote the comedy La signorina No, awarded at the Milan Casa della cultura by Sabatino Lopez.[10] In 1949, he published the farces Non c'è trucco! and La poltrona di Procuste,[11] followed by the three-act comedy Non si sa mai,[12][13] the comic opera Due schiaffi non-te li leva nessuno,[14] and the detective comedy La banda della nebbia.[15][16]
In 1951 for Carlo Signorelli Editore, he wrote the two volumes La storia del Far West (The History of the Far West) and La storia degli ammutinati del Bounty (The History of the Mutineers of the Bounty), with illustrations by Francesco Pescador, both published in the popular literature series directed by Gian Carlo Testoni.[17][18] In 1955, he published the essay Sono innocente (I am Innocent) with Cappelli, which The Italian Scene in New York City listed in early 1956 among the most read books in Italy.[19] Dedicated to the theme of judicial errors, the book addressed dozens of cases of wrongful convictions worldwide, from the case of the Little Baker of Venice, to the Gino Girolimoni case, from the Dreyfus affair to the story of Sacco and Vanzetti.[20]
In the same year, he wrote the novel The Prairie Rebels, which earned him the Castello Prize[21] and also had good international success: translated into English by H. E. Scott, it was published with illustrations by Nadir Quinto both in the United Kingdom in 1959 (The Prairie Rebels),[22][23] and in the United States in 1960 (The Wild Horses of Tuscany),[24][25] and then in South Africa in 1963 with translation by Marie Agostinis (Die rebelle van die grasvlakte).[26][27] The book, set in the Tuscan Maremma, told the story of Pippo, Vanni, and Bicci and the three foals that had invaded their farm, while the Second World War was in its final stages.[28][29] British critics described it as "a remarkable piece of literature providing a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience".[30]
His Far West of 1964, published by Signorelli in different editions with different pagination, was republished by Rylee in 1969 in the United Kingdom, with translation by Susan Cannata.[31][32] In 1963, Fiori published the short story collection A tu per tu con le belve (Face to Face with Beasts), included by Lina Sacchetti in her History of Literature for Youth from 1968.[33]
^Pacifico Fiori (1963). Die rebelle van die grasvlakte (in Afrikaans). Translated by Marie Agostinis. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.
^"FIORI [Pacifico]". Africana Nova. South African Public Library. 1963. p. 171.
^Special Libraries Issue. Canadian Library Association. 1959. p. 118.
^Books and Bookmen. Vol. 5–6. Hansom Books. 1959. pp. 39–46.
^"The Rebels of the Prairie". Time & Tide. Vol. 40. 1959. p. 1338. a remarkable piece of literature providing a throughly enjoyed reading
^The first volume on "The History of the Far West" was published by Signorelli in 224 pages in 1951, in 1964 "Far West" was published in 74 pages, reissued in 1965 in 109 pages, and in 1969 in English with Rylee in 77 pages.
^Pacifico Fiori (1969). Far West. Translated by Susan Cannata. London: Rylee Ltd.
^Lina Sacchetti (1968). Storia della letteratura per la gioventù. Le Monnier. p. 314.
^Silvano Prevosto. Trent'anni(PDF). Libreria Le Colonne. p. 50.
