Biography of Giani Stuparich
Giani Stuparich was a writer, teacher and journalist who embodies the profile of a man of culture and an intellectual dedicated to civil and political commitments.
Born in Trieste in 1891, he studied the classics before moving to the University of Prague and thereafter that of Florence, where he graduated in Italian literature and began collaborating with the newspaper “La Voce”, developing a close friendship with Scipio Slataper.
In 1915, when the Great War broke out, driven by irredentist ideals, he enlisted, with his brother Carlo, amongst the volunteers to serve in the Italian army - at the time Trieste was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - under the pseudonym of Giovanni Sartori, earning the Gold Medal of Military Valour at the end of the war, for his actions.
The loss of his beloved brother and friend Scipio, together with the time spent in prison, marked him deeply and this painful experience was to prove a source of inspiration for his writings.
At his return from the front, in 1919 he married Elody Oblath and the couple was blessed with the birth of three children.
A teacher of humanities at the local secondary school, where he himself had studied, he spent his free time writing, publishing novels, memoirs, tales and articles.
During the Nazi occupation of the Adriatic coastline, he was arrested with his mother Gisella Gentili and wife Elody Oblath, both of whom came from Trieste Jewish community families. Locked up in the Risiera di San Sabba, the writer was released following the intervention by the Prefect of Trieste and Bishop, Mons. Santin.
A member of the Trieste National Liberation Committee, after the liberation, Stuparich founded the Club of Culture and Arts in Trieste, which he also chaired.
He collaborated with “La Stampa” of Turin from 1932 until 1955 and wrote for “Il Tempo” of Rome until shortly before his death, addressing political topics in many of his articles.
As a teacher, he educated generations of young adults, conveying his great passion for culture to them.
Giani Stuparich died in Rome in 1961.
Selected works
La Nazione Czeca, Catania, 1915
Colloqui con mia fratello, Trieste,1925
Un anno di scuola, 1929
Guerra del ’15 (Dal taccuino di un volontario), Milano, 1931
L’isola, Trieste, 1942
Ritorneranno, Milano, 1941
Trieste nei miei ricordi, Milano, 1948
Simone, Milano, 1953
Piccolo cabotaggio, Torino, 1955
Ricordi istriani, Trieste, 1961
Selected bibliography
Bertacchini R., Stuparich, Firenze,1968
Mercanti A., A vent'anni dalla morte di Giani Stuparich, Trieste, 1981
Criscione G., Bibliografia della critica su Giani Stuparich, Trieste, 2002
Benussi C., Stuparich Giani, in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 2019
External link
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani
Publications
Contarini S. Del Buono B. Perosa G., Diario prigionia 1916 -1918