Giuseppe Ungaretti, 2024 (digitally enhanced pencil drawing)

Giuseppe UNGARETTI (8 February 1888 - 1 June 1970) Italian poet and man of letters, considered the precursor of Hermeticism; born in Egypt where his family had moved for work, he spent his childhood and youth there, attending schools and friendships that fueled his love for literature. He subsequently moved to Italy and then to Paris where he frequented the Sorbonne, internationally renowned poets and writers including Guillaume Apollinaire, to whom he remained particularly attached. He collaborated with the Italian magazine Lacerba and was then called back to the front; with the end of the war he settled in Italy and his first recognition of the "Il gondolier" prize (1932) opened the doors to publications with great publishers such as Vallecchi and Mondadori. He was invited to Brazil to hold the chair of Italian literature and remained in Sao Paolo until 1942. Upon returning home he was appointed Academician of Italy and was assigned a university chair in Rome. He publishes numerous collections of poems, essays and translations. A very active academic, he traveled extensively until the last years of his life. Portrait, illustration by Dariush Radpour, digitally enhanced pencil drawing, 2024.