Eugenio Montale

Who was Eugenio Montale?

Eugenio Montale (Italian: [euˈdʒɛːnjo monˈtaːle]; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator. In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions." Montale was born in Genoa, the son of Giuseppina Ricci and Domenico Montale, a businessman who ran a chemical products company. Montale was the youngest of six children, including five brothers and a sister. Montale attended elementary school in Genoa. The Montale family spent their summers at their villa in Monterosso al Mare, and the landscapes of the Ligurian region would go on to inspire his poetry. In 1911, he was enrolled at a technical college and graduated with a diploma in accountancy in 1915.

In the same year, he began taking music lessons with baritone Ernesto Sivori. However, his time as an infantryman in World War I and the death of Sivori in 1923 caused him to abandon his career in music and turn to poetry instead.

Historical significance

In 1975, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for his distinctive poetry which, with great artistic sensitivity, has interpreted human values under the sign of an outlook on life with no illusions.