Francesco Biamonti: The Forgotten Writer Who Loved the Sea

Francesco Biamonti (1928–2001), an Italian writer from San Biagio della Cima in Liguria, lived a reclusive life in a converted barn. Despite a late start in publishing—his first novel, L'Angelo di Avrigue (Einaudi), came out when he was 55, with a review by Italo Calvino—he earned critical acclaim. His second novel, Vento Largo (Einaudi, 1991), won the Premio Comisso; Attesa sul mare (Einaudi, 1994) was a finalist for the Premio Strega and won the Premio Selezione Campiello. Biamonti worked as a librarian at the Biblioteca Aprosiana in Ventimiglia from 1956 to 1964, then tended his garden, favoring myrtle and mastic over mimosa. His writing, described by Laura Guglielmi as 'an artisan of the pen,' focuses on the Ligurian landscape and its relationship with the sea. He published Le parole la notte (1998) and posthumously Il silenzio (2003).