Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini

Pier Antonio Quarantotti Gambini (; 23 February 1910 – 22 April 1965) was an Italian writer and journalist, author of novels, poetry, and essays.

Biography Quarantotti Gambini was born in Pisino, Istria, then part of Austria-Hungary, in an Italian family originally from Rovigno. His father, Giovanni, a teacher, was a prominent Italian irredentist militant in Istria. His family would let a flag of the Lombard league with the coat of arms of the city of Capodistria wave from the window of their villa during Austrian times. His mother, Fides Histriae Gambini, was from Capodistria (today Koper, Slovenia), where Pier Antonio spent much of his childhood and teenage years, in the villa of his maternal grandfather in Semedella. This place would figure in many of his novels. Istria was integrated into the Kingdom of Italy in 1919 as a result of World War I, fulfilling the aspirations of Quarantotti's father.

Quarantotti Gambini met Richard Hughes in 1927, as the English writer was travelling in Istria, and received literary advice from him. He became friends with Umberto Saba in 1929 in Trieste. His 1958 novel La Calda Vita is a subtle exploration of the transition from childhood to adulthood, its sensuality and cruelty.

He received the Bagutta Prize in 1948 for L'Onda dell'incrociatore. In 1963, he was a member of the jury of the Campiello Prize.

Selected work

Prose I Nostri simili, Solaria, Firenze 1932 La Rosa rossa, Treves, Milano 1937; Einaudi, Torino 1972 L'onda dell'incrociatore, Einaudi, Torino 1947 / Oscar Mondadori, 1966 / Palermo: Sellerio, 2000 Amor militare, Mondadori, Milano 1955 Il Cavallo Tripoli, Mondadori, Milano 1956 La Calda vita, Mondadori, Milano 1958 I giochi di Norma, Einaudi, Torino 1964 L'amore di Lupo, Einaudi, Torino 1964 Le redini bianche La corsa di Falco

Poetry Racconto d'amore, Mondadori, Milano 1965 Al sole e al vento, Edizioni Einaudi 1971

Essays Primavera a Trieste, Mondadori, Milano 1951 Sotto il cielo di Russia, Mondadori, Milano 1963 Luce di Trieste, Eri, Torino 1964 I Nobili di Rovigno e delle altre città istriane, diritti e privilegi, Disputazione di storia patria per le Venezie, Venezia 1968

Correspondence Il vecchio e il giovane, Mondadori, Milano 1965