Alessandro De Feo: Forgotten Roman Writer Rediscovered

Alessandro De Feo (Modugno, 1905 – Rome, 1968) was forced by his father Angelo De Feo, a Ministry of Interior official, to study law in Rome. Instead of practicing law, he began writing for L'Ora di Palermo and in 1933 joined Il Messaggero under director Francesco Malgeri, first in foreign affairs then as film critic until 1943. He also worked for Cines, where artistic director Emilio Cecchi assigned him to co-write the screenplay for Ragazzo (1934, directed by Ivo Perilli), the first realist sound film, which was censored by the fascist regime and later lost. Post-war, De Feo wrote for Corriere della Sera and in 1955 Arrigo Benedetti gave him the theater column at L'Espresso, which he kept until his death, championing talents like Luca Ronconi. His first novel, Gli inganni (Longanesi, 1962), follows Antonio from Bari to Rome over 24 hours. In 1963 he published La Giudia, and in 1967 I cattivi pensieri, a Strega Prize finalist. Emanuele Trevi noted in Repubblica (2005) that De Feo's fame had almost vanished. In 2021, publisher Cliquot reissued Gli inganni with a preface by Massimo Raffaeli, reviving interest.