Silvio D'Arzo

The writer Silvio D'Arzo, favourite pen-name of Ezio Comparoni, lived in the XX century and was original and lonely at the same time.
Reggio Emilia
Silvio D'Arzo

Biographical note

Ezio Comparoni was born in Reggio Emilia February 6, 1920, son of Rosalinda Comparoni and a man who remained unknown for the registry office. Although she did not have a stable job, Rosalinda educated her son to a lively sense of dignity: she showed him the way to redeem through study and culture. Comparoni always lived with his mother in the same modest house in Via Aschieri, in the town centre of Reggio Emilia.

The first literary experiences begun early: in a letter to the writer Virginia Guicciardi Fiastri, dated 1929, there's the first evidence of his poetic activity.
The booklet "Masks, Stories of Country and City", published in 1935, marks the early literary debut of Comparoni. Beside the inevitable dependence on literary models (De Amicis, Verga, Fucini, D'Annunzio, Dostojevskij, etc.), some thematic choices (bandits, beggars, jealous lovers, etc.) suggest the influence of that minor literature, like the tales of the storytellers, which came probably from a family repertoire.
The use of pseudonyms (only partial here: Raffaele C.) is confirmed in all subsequent production and with different inventions (Andrea Colli, Sandro Nedi or Nadi, etc.): among them prevailed "Silvio D'Arzo".
Thanks to his lively intelligence, as well as to the resources gained by his mother, Ezio Comparoni was able to pass the classical high school exam when he was only sixteen and he will graduate in Literature at the University of Bologna at 21 years old.

"His figure sweet and fair, dreamy and daring - Attilio Bertolucci wrote - remained to disturb the conscience of those who believe in a not evanescent literature