2023 is the year of celebrations for the centenary of the birth of Italo Calvino, one of the most loved and appreciated Italian writers of the twentieth century. The places of his life, those that have entered the pages of his many books, were the first to announce their intention to pay homage to him, while the Robinson insert of La Repubblica has already begun the publication of some unpublished letters, sent between 1962 and 1963 to his wife Chichita.
Italo Calvino, a great writer
Castiglione della Pescaia, in the province of Grosseto he will give life to a series of events throughout 2023, and will give him posthumous honorary citizenship. The Tuscan town was certainly the place in Calvino's heart, so much so that the writer chose to be buried there. In fact, several times in interviews he had revealed that the pine forest had always been a great inspiration to him. Three fixed monthly meetings will be held in the Library dedicated to him to present his novels and Italian fairy tales through
theatrical performances. Calvin was born in Cuba on October 15, 1923 by the father of Sanremo and mother of Sassari; the city of Sanremo is central to his biography, because he spent the fundamental years of his education there. Here in fact, after the Cuban parenthesis, the family returns to live and Italo concludes his studies at the high school before moving to Turin for university. Then he too returns to live in Cuba, in 1964. On the Caribbean island he marries Chichita and stays for a few months before returning permanently to Italy, first to Turin and then to Rome. Afterwards he settles in Paris for 13 years (from 1967 to 1980) with the family which in the meantime had expanded with the birth of his daughter Giovanna. Finally he returned to Rome where he remained until his death at the age of 61 on 19 September 1985.
A year of celebrations
In Sanremo the reader will be able to follow in the footsteps of Calvin's work, look for the path of the spider's nests and the tree of the rampant baron, find the impalpable invisible cities among the streets of Sanremo. The literary itinerary project was promoted by the Municipality of Sanremo to celebrate the centenary of the writer's birth (1923-2023) and was elaborated by Laura Guglielmi and Veronica Pesce. It is also a volume published by Il Palindrome which contains an annex to the literary map of the city with indications of the stages in the life and references to the works of Italo Calvino.
It should also be noted that Lorenzo Mieli (producer with The Apartment, Fremantle group) is planning a TV adaptation of the Baron Rampant, of which it has taken the transposition rights. Published in 1957, the metaphorical and philosophical work in Calvino's style revolves around a young baron who in 1767 climbs a tree after a quarrel with his father and remains there for the rest of his life. The work won the Viareggio Prize and is Calvino's best-selling novel, the second chapter of the heraldic trilogy Our ancestors, also made up of Il viscount halved (1952) and The nonexistent knight (1959).
New graphic design for the most famous works
On the occasion of the centenary the publishing house Mondadori has launched a competition to give a new look to the novels, which are being published in the Oscar. New graphics won by Jack Smyth, a very talented young Irish designer. All the most famous works of fiction have already come out with the new cover, from The rampant baron to If on a winter's night a traveler, from Palomar to Invisible cities. i also come back Meridians dedicated to him, again with a renewed graphic design: the three volumes of Novels and stories and his Essays (1945-1985). In 2022 the Album Calvino is also renewed, and enriched with an unpublished text, finally it also returns to the shelves I was born in America: interviews (1951-1985).
(Source texts agency Ansa)
