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Dino Campana Biography & Facts

Dino Campana (20 August 1885 – 1 March 1932) was an Italian visionary poet. His fame rests on his only published book of poetry, the Canti Orfici ("Orphic Songs"), as well as his wild and erratic personality, including his ill-fated love affair with Sibilla Aleramo. He is often seen as an Italian example of a poète maudit. Life Campana was born near Faenza in the small town of Marradi, which is found in the Apennines along the border between the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany. His father Giovanni, who was always affectionate and understanding with Dino, was an elementary school principal, and forthright member of the community, but had a weak and neurotic character. His mother, Fanny Luti, came from a wealthy family but was an eccentric and compulsive woman, affected by mental illness. She would often wander the hills, forgetting about family duties, but was overly attached to Dino's brother Manlio, born in 1888. After his younger brother arrived, Dino was overlooked by his mother and had to fight for her affection. In 1900, at approximately fifteen years of age, Campana was diagnosed with the first symptoms of nervous disturbances, was medicated and sent to an asylum. This did not, however, prevent him from completing most of his schooling. He completed his elementary education in Marradi - his third, fourth and fifth gymnasium years at the Salesiani di Faenza. Afterwards, he began the lyceum at the Liceo Torricelli in Faenza and then in Carmagnola near Turin where he earned his high school diploma in July 1903. When he returned to Marradi his nervous condition worsened and he suffered frequent mood swings - due to the difficult relationship with his family (especially his mother) and the town. To overcome the monotony of winter evenings in Marradi, Dino used to go to the nearby town of "Gerbarola", where he spent time with the locals enjoying roasted chestnuts (marroni chestnuts grow near Marradi). This type of activity appeared to have a positive effect on his mental health. At the age of 18, in the Autumn of 1903 he enrolled in faculty of chemistry at the University of Bologna. In 1905, after being denied entry into the military as an officer in Ravenna, Dino enrolled in faculty of pharmaceutical chemistry in Florence, but after only a few months he returned to Bologna. Some of his first poetic work would be written here, and later included in Orphic Songs. Campana did not finish university and had a difficult time finding his true calling. Journeys Campana had an irrepressible desire to escape and dedicate himself to a life of vagrancy, which he accomplished by undertaking various jobs. The first reaction of his family, his town, and the public authorities was to consider Campana's strange behavior and travels to foreign countries as an obvious signs of madness. He was judged with suspicion both because his physical traits were considered too German, and due to the vigorous way he discussed poetry and philosophy. Following his journeys, the police (in agreement with the psychiatric practices of the time and the uncertainty of his family), admitted him to a lunatic asylum, at the age of 21. Between May and July 1906, Campana made a first trip to Switzerland and France, which ended with his arrest in Bardonecchia and his admission to the mental asylum Imola. In 1907, not knowing what to do about their son's madness, Campana's parents sent him to stay in Latin America with a family of Italian immigrants. This was not exactly an autonomous journey for the poet, who would not have been able to obtain a passport for the new world by himself, since he was a known ‘madman’ and in fact, his family had to apply for his passport and organise the trip. Campana left out of fear of being sent back to the asylum. Campana's parents also supported the move to send him to America, in the hope that it would help him recover, but it seems that the passport was valid only for arrival - likely an attempt to get rid of him, since living with Campana had become unbearable, at that point. It seems that his mother had come to believe that her son was the Antichrist. His travels in America represent a particularly obscure and unknown point in Campana's biography: there are those who see him as ‘the poet of two worlds’, while others instead claim that Campana did not even travel to the continent. There are also different opinions about possible dates of travel and the route home. The most credible hypothesis is that he left in the autumn of 1907 from Genova, and wandered around Argentina until the spring of 1909, when he returned to Marradi, and was subsequently arrested. After a short intermission at San Salvi in Florence, he left for Belgium, but was arrested again in Brussels, and was interned in a ‘maison de santé’ in Tournai at the start of 1910. After asking his family for help, he was sent back to Marradi and lived through a quieter period, likely re-enrolling in university. Canti Orfici To the spectral garden to the silenced laurel With green garlands To autumnal earth A last goodbye! On the harsh barren Reddened hillsides in the waning sun Life in the distance Its raucous cries merged screams: Screams to the dying sun That stains the flowerbeds with blood. In its original form, Campana's only book of poetry contained poems composed between 1906 and 1913. In 1913 Campana went to Florence, to meet with Lacerba magazine associates Giovanni Papini and poet/painter Ardengo Soffici (his distant relative), to deliver his manuscript for publication, entitled "The longest day". It was not taken into account and the manuscript was lost, only to be found in 1971, after the death of Soffici, among his papers in the house of Poggio a Caiano (probably in the same place where it had been abandoned and forgotten). After a few months of waiting Campana travelled from Marradi to Florence to recover his manuscript. Papini did not have it and sent him to Soffici who denied that he ever had the booklet. Campana, whose mind was already frail, became angry and despondent, for he had delivered, trustingly, the only copy he had. His continual pleading only won him the contempt and indifference of the cultural milieu that revolved around the 'red shirts' of the Caffè Giubbe Rosse. Finally, exasperated, Campana threatened to come with a knife to take justice from the 'infamous' Soffici and his associates, whom he called 'sciacalli' (jackals). In the winter of 1914, convinced he could no longer recover the manuscript, Campana decided to rewrite everything, relying on memory and his sketches. In a few days, working at night and at the cost of huge mental effort, he managed to rewrite the poetry, albeit with modifications and additions. In the spring of 1914, with the help of a local printer of religious tracts, Campana was finally able to self-publish the collection 'Orphic Songs' at his own expense, the title a reference to the mythic figure of Orpheus, the first of poet-musicians. The first e.... Discover the Dino Campana popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Dino Campana books.