2023-10-08 13:25:41
The writer and journalist Luca Goldoni, an attentive observer of contemporary customs, who he described in a humorous way in highly successful books, died on the afternoon of Saturday 7 October at the age of 95 at the hospice in Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna), where he had been hospitalized in recent days due to worsening health conditions.
Born on 23 February 1928 in Parma, Luca Goldoni began his career as a journalist at the “Gazzetta di Parma” and “Il Resto del Carlino”, and then worked with the “Corriere della Sera” first as a crime reporter, then as a correspondent of war and finally as an attentive and ironic observer of Italian customs. Subsequently he also collaborated with the newspapers “Airone” and “Tv Sorrisi e canzone” and for many years he held a regular weekly column on “QN! (Resto del Carlino, il Giorno, la Nazione) and on the weekly “Oggi”.
His intense activity as a journalist – a collection of his articles was published in 1972 under the title “The dark dress is welcome” (Mondadori) – was accompanied by that of an essayist, who concentrated on Italian customs shaped by history between the economic boom and the transformations following 1968, told in books such as “If I return to birth” (Mondadori, 1981), “Journey to the province (Rome included)” (Mondadori, 1984), “We put the priest to bed” ( with Enzo Sermasi, Mondadori, 1988).
Many books by Luca Goldoni have often become best sellers: “Esclusi i presente” (Mondadori, 1973), “Say that I send you” (Mondadori, 1976), “Cioè” (Mondadori, 1977), “She teaches me ” (Mondadori, 1983), “I take the opportunity” (Mondadori, 1985); “Go calmly” (Rizzoli, 1987), “We are working for you” (Rizzoli, 1990) and “Buon continuation” (Rizzoli, 1994).
Goldoni has poured his satirical streak into some books of historical reconstruction with a brilliant narrative style: “Maria Luigia, a career woman” (Rizzoli, 1991), “Messalina, una shameless innocence” (Rizzoli, 1992), “Benito against Mussolini” ( with Enzo Sermasi, Rizzoli, 1993), “History of Italy from Mike Bongiorno onwards” (with Pierluigi Ronchetti, Mondadori, 1996), “Casanova. Romantica spy” (with Gianpietro Zucchetta, Rizzoli, 1997), “Garibaldi. L ‘lover of two worlds’ (Bur, 2003).
Goldoni was also interested in the observation of the animal world due to its contiguity with the human world and the traits they share. Among his books in this vein are: “Vita da bestie” (Rizzoli, 1998), “Italy on the leash. Stories of animals and their owners” (Rizzoli, 2000), “Residential zoo. Italians and other animals” (Rizzoli , 2001), “A beast as a friend” (Rizzoli, 2005), “Millezampe” (Rizzoli, 2005), “Donkey that you are. Stories of animals that we delude ourselves into knowing” (Mursia, 2010).
Luca Goldoni published his first novel, “The survivor” (Rizzoli), in 2002, with which he won the Fenice Europa Prize, while not failing to return to analyzing today’s Italian society with an acute and biting gaze, as in more recent “Tranelli d’Italia. And no one knows how to untangle the problem anymore” (Barbera, 2013).
He has received several awards including the Golden Book for having exceeded three million copies sold with his titles and the Palme d’Or at the Humor Salon for “Non ho parole” (1978).
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