Biography

Alfonso Gatto (17 July 1909 – 8 March 1976) was an Italian writer. Along with Giuseppe Ungaretti he is one of the foremost Italian poets of the 20th century and a major exponent of hermetic poetry. Gatto studied at the Salerno classic lycaeum, where he discovered his passion for poetry and literature. In 1926 he attended the University of Naples Federico II, but he had to discontinue his studies due to financial problems. Like many Italian poets of his age, such as Eugenio Montale and Salvatore Quasimodo, he never graduated.

Gatto fell in love with Jole, the daughter of his mathematics teacher, and at the age of 21, he eloped with her to Milan. He worked many different jobs: bookshop assistant, college instructor, proofreader, journalist, and teacher. In 1936, due to his anti-fascist activism, he was arrested and jailed at the San Vittore prison in Milan.

During those years, Gatto had been a contributor to various innovative journals and magazines of the Italian literary culture. In 1938 he founded the magazine Campo di Marte together with writer Vasco Pratolini and commissioned by Italian publisher Vallecchi, but it only lasted a year. It had been created as a fortnightly magazine (first issued on 1 August 1938) and with the specific remit of educating the public in the artistic and literary production of all genres. The magazine was directly connected with the so-called Florentine Hermeticism. Founding the magazine was a significant experience for Gatto, who was able to enter the leading literary circles.

In 1941 Gatto was appointed professor of Italian literature for "high merits", at the Art School of Bologna, and a special correspondent for the newspaper L'Unità, thus being placed in a primary position for the promotion of literature of communist inspiration. Subsequently, Gatto abandoned the Italian Communist Party and became a dissident communist. Gatto died in a car accident on 8 March 1976 at Capalbio in the province of Grosseto. He is buried in the cemetery of Salerno and on his tomb (which has a boulder as its tombstone) is engraved his friend Montale's funeral farewell:

Ad Alfonso Gatto / per cui vita e poesie / furono un'unica testimonianza/ d'amore