Luigi Pirandello: 150 Years Since the Birth of a Literary Giant
Born on June 28, 1867, in Girgenti, Italy, Luigi Pirandello pursued his education privately and attended a technical institute before graduating from the University of Bonn in 1891. In 1892, he relocated to Rome and married Maria Antonietta Portulano in 1894, with whom he had three children. A devastating landslide in his father’s mine led to financial ruin for the family and negatively impacted Maria's mental health; she passed away in 1959. Pirandello wrote for Corriere della Sera and gained fame with his 1904 work, Il fu Mattia Pascal. He established the Teatro d'Arte di Roma in 1925, became a celebrated playwright, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934. He succumbed to pneumonia on December 10, 1936, in Rome.
Key facts
- Luigi Pirandello was born on June 28, 1867, in Girgenti (Agrigento), Italy.
- He graduated in 1891 from the University of Bonn with a thesis on the phonetics of the Girgenti dialect.
- He married Maria Antonietta Portulano in 1894; they had three children.
- A landslide in his father's sulfur mine in Aragona caused financial ruin.
- His wife Maria Antonietta was institutionalized and died in 1959.
- His first major success was the novel Il fu Mattia Pascal (1904).
- He founded the Teatro d'Arte di Roma in 1925.
- He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934.
- He joined the National Fascist Party in 1924 but did not incorporate fascism into his works.
- He died of pneumonia on December 10, 1936, in Rome.
Entities
Artists
- Luigi Pirandello
- Luigi Capuana
- Mussolini
Institutions
- University of Bonn
- University of Palermo
- University of Rome
- Corriere della Sera
- Teatro d'Arte di Roma
- Partito Nazionale Fascista
- Artspecialday
Locations
- Girgenti
- Agrigento
- Italy
- Palermo
- Rome
- Bonn
- Aragona