Draft:Francesco Sapori

Francesco Sapori
Born	(1890-01-10)10 January 1890 Massa Lombarda, Italy
Died	(1964-04-01)1 April 1964 (aged 74) Rome, Italy
Occupations	art critic novelist university professor
Relatives	Ovidio Sapori (father) and Lida Raggi (mother)

Francesco Sapori (born 10 January, 1890 in Massa Lombarda – died 1 April 1964 in Rome) was an Italian art critic, novelist, university professor, and active National Fascist party member.

Biography

Francesco Sapori was born in Massa Lombarda on January 10, 1890 to Ovidio Sapori and Lida Raggi. He went to university in Catania, where he discovered his passion for art history and criticism. In 1912, he received his law degree, however he quickly abandoned his legal career for a literary career.

During World War I, he participated as a second lieutenant, for which he was awarded a medal, but he received an injury that would cause him to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. He used his experiences during World War I to write his first novel, La trincea, or The Trench.

During the the Ventennio, or the twenty years of Fascist rule in Italy, Francesco Sapori devoted himself to the creation of fascist propaganda, especially that of "Fascist art." He published several works on the topic, including L'arte e il duce and Il fascismo e l'arte, although his ideology impacted all of his works published at this time. He edited anthologies of popular and patriotic songs and created school history textbooks. In 1927, he was named the Commissioner of the Roman Fascist Syndicate of Authors and Writers, a position which allowed Sapori to promote fascist ideas. Sapori also curated exhibitions on the topic of fascism and fascist art: Il Libro Coloniale del Tempo Fascista (1936) and Prima Mostra degli Artisti Italiani in Armi (1942). At two photographed fascist art exhibitions, Francesco Sapori entertained Benito Mussolini, other National Fascist Party members, and higher-ranking Nazi Party members.

Francesco Sapori held at least three academic positions, as professor of History of Modern and Contemporary Art at the University of Rome, History of Art in the Academies of Fine Arts, and professor at the University of Catania. His academic career was established under fascism. After World War II, Sapori turned his career further toward academia.

He died in Rome on April 1, 1964.

Like many other artists and authors who were famous during the Ventennio, Sapori has been largely forgotten, in part due to change in artistic-literary taste and his involvement with the Fascist administration. He was the subject of a biography in his lifetime by Michele Alicino, Francesco Sapori: Chef de file des ecrivains italiens.

The Francesco Sapori Papers are held at Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center, which include materials produced by and about Sapori between 1910-1967.

Selected works

Fiction

• La chimera: novelle, Ancona, G. Puccini, 1913
• La trincea: romanzo, Milan, Treves, 1917
• Terrerosse: romanzo, Milan, Treves, 1919; then republished in 2006 by Raffaelli Editore in Rimini
• Idolo del mio cuore: novelle, Milan, Treves, 1920
• Occhi di civetta: novelle, Florence, Luigi Battistelli, 1920; then republished in Venice, La nuova Italia, 1928
• La pace degli angeli: romanzo, Florence, Bemporad, 1920; then republished in Milan, Treves, 1930
• Delitto: romanzo, Milan, Mondadori, 1922
• Incanto di Circe: novelle, Milan, Mondadori, 1924
• Casa dei nonni: romanzo, Milan, Treves, 1926
• In capo al mondo: romanzo, Milan, Treves, 1928
• Coi Re Magi e con le stelle, Rome, Ed. Di Novissima, 1933
• Il sogno del cavaliere: romanzo, Milan, Garzanti, 1940
• Sotto il sole, S.I., Novissima, 1935; then republished in Rome, Tosi, 1941

Non-Fiction

• Poeti italiani irredenti, Florence, Bemporad, 1915
• La lampada accesa: studi sull'arte antica, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1921
• Marocco pittoresco, Milan, Treves, 1927
• L'amico degli artisti, Rome, Sapientia, 1931
• Luigi Serra: Pittore bolognese, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1932
• L'arte e il duce, Milan, Mondadori, 1932
• Il fascismo e l'arte, Milan, Mondadori, 1934
• Il duce nel mondo : giudizi tradotti e presentati, Rome, Società editrice di "Novissima," 1938
• L' arte in Roma dalle origini ai giorni nostri, Rome, Istituto di studi romani, 1939
• Scultura italiana moderna, Libreria dello Stato, Rome, 1949
• Architettura in Roma 1901-1950, A. Belardetti Editore, Rome, 1953
• Louis Rivier: Libera Signoria delle Arti, Rome, 1952