The Italian Gandhi: Giuseppe Giovanni Lanza del Vasto

Giuseppe Giovanni Lanza del Vasto (1901–1981), known as the 'Italian Gandhi,' was a pacifist philosopher and activist born in San Vito dei Normanni, Italy, to landowner Luigi Lanza del Vasto and Belgian noblewoman Anna Maria Enrichetta Nants. Raised in an aristocratic environment, he studied philosophy at the universities of Florence and Pisa, graduating in 1928. After his father's death in 1931, he moved to Paris, writing in French and engaging with intellectuals like Simone Weil, Gabriel Marcel, and Maurice de Gaudillac. In 1936, he sold his manuscript Judas to fund a trip to India, where he met Mahatma Gandhi, who gave him the name Shantidas ('servant of peace'). His year in India exposed him to social unrest and nonviolence, which he later adopted. Returning to Paris, he published Le Pèlerinage aux Sources in 1943, gaining fame. In 1944, he founded the Community of the Ark, a rural nonviolent community inspired by Indian ashrams. He led public actions against French torture in Algeria (1957), nuclear weapons, and for conscientious objectors, and undertook a 40-day fast during Vatican II in 1963 for world peace. His legacy is promoted by the Associazione amici di Lanza del Vasto in Toulouse, France.