Carlo Bo

Carlo Bo (25 January 1911 – 21 July 2001) was an Italian poet, literary critic, distinguished humanist, professor and senator for life from 1984.

Biography Bo was born on January 25, 1911, in Sestri Levante, Italy.

From 1929 to 1934, he attended the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Florence. Although he began studying classical literature, he soon switched to modern literature, in which he received his laurea in 1934.

Bo wrote his first book in 1935, a monograph on Jacques Riviere. Before the Second World War, in the year 1936, he published an essay on the literary magazine Il Frontespizio which gathered together the most relevant poets like Mario Luzi, and contemporary artists from Ottone Rosai to Giorgio Morandi and Quinto Martini. His essay was titled "Letteratura come vita (Literature as a way of life)", containing the theoretical-methodological fundamentals of hermetic poetry.

In 1939 he began teaching French literature at the University of Urbino.

Bo was appointed a senator for life on July 18, 1984, and has been a member of several parties. He served with the Christian Democrats from 1987 to 1994; the Italian People's Party from 1994 to 2001; and The Daisy from 2001 until his death later that year.

Bo is credited with writing roughly 40 books and would also found the national Gentile da Fabriano prize.