Military hero influenced Mussolini with his distinctive style
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| Gabriele D'Annunzio: writer and military hero, pictured in the 1930s |
He is considered to be the leading writer in Italy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as being a military hero and a political activist. Some of his ideas and actions were believed to have influenced Italian Fascism and the style of the dictator, Benito Mussolini.
D’Annunzio was the son of a wealthy landowner and went to university in Rome. His first poetry was published when he was just 16 and the novels that made him famous came out when he was in his twenties.
At the age of 30 he began a long liaison with the actress Eleonora Duse and started writing plays for her. But his writing failed to pay for his extravagant lifestyle and he had to flee to France in 1910 because of his debts.
After Italy entered the First World War, D’Annunzio returned and plunged into the fighting, losing an eye during combat while serving with the air force. He became famous for his bold, individual actions, such as his daring flight over Vienna to drop thousands of propaganda leaflets and his surprise attack on the Austrian fleet with power boats when they were moored at Buccari Bay in what is now Croatia.
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| Eleonora Duse, the actress with whom D'Annunzio had a long affair |
He ruled Fiume as a dictator until December 1920. Some of his slogans and the tactics he used while he was leader there were later copied by Mussolini.
After Italian forces made him abdicate he retired to his home at Gardone Riviera to write .In 1922 he was pushed out of a window by an unknown assailant but, although badly injured, he survived the fall.
He was given the hereditary title of Principe di Montenevoso by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1924.
Next to his house he built a stadium, Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, to display his torpedo boat and the aircraft in which he flew over Vienna. A mausoleum was built there after his death in 1938 to contain his remains.
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| The amphitheatre at Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, the stadium D'Annunzio built next to his home overlooking Lake Garda |
Il Vittoriale degli italiani, The Shrine of Italian Victories, is an estate in the hillside above the town of Gardone Riviera, overlooking Lake Garda in the province of Brescia. D’Annunzio began planning the estate in 1921 with architect Giancarlo Maroni. Jutting out of the hillside is the cruiser, Puglia, its bow pointing symbolically in the direction of the Adriatic, as though ready to conquer the Dalmatian shores. Now a national monument, the estate houses a military museum and library and is a popular tourist destination.
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| Gabriele D'Annunzio's former house in Pescara is now a museum dedicated to the writer's life |
The birthplace of Gabriele D’Annunzio in Corso Manthonè in Pescara is now the Museo Casa Natale Gabriele D’Annunzio. The house at number 116, where he spent his childhood, displays furniture, documents and photographs illustrating the writer’s life. It is open to visitors every morning from 9 am to 1.30 pm. For more information, click here.
Pescara hotels by Booking.com
More reading:
The founding of Mussolini's Fascist Party
The abdication of Victor Emmanuel III
Why Eleonora Duse is seen as one of Italy's greatest acting talents
Also on this day:
1501: The birth of doctor and botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli
1921: The birth of Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli
(Picture credits: Amphitheatre by BlueSky2012; museum by RaBoe001; via Wikimedia Commons)
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