Antonio Fogazzaro

The Saint (Dodo Press) Antonio Fogazzaro

Antonio Fogazzaro (1842-1911) also known as Abate Zanella, was an Italian novelist. In 1864 he completed a law degree in Turin. In Milan he followed the scapigliatura movement. In 1869 he was back in Vicenza to work as a lawyer, but he left this path very soon to write books full time. In his works one finds a constant conflict between a sense of duty and passions, faith and reason. In some cases this brings the tormented soul of characters into mystic experiences. Arguably his masterpiece was Piccolo Mondo Antico (1901) (variously titled in English translations as The Patriot or as Little World of the Past). This well written novel is set in his beloved Valsolda on Lake Lugano, Italy, in the 1850s. Fogazzaro was a deeply religious man but supported reform in the Catholic Church and toured Italy proposing to reconcile Darwin's theory of evolution with Christianity. He found new interpretations in positivist and evolutionist theories, but because of this the Roman Catholic Church banned the novels Il Santo (The Saint) (1905) and Leila (1910). His other works include: Miranda (1874) and Valsolda (1876).