Giorgio Caproni

Giorgio Caproni was an Italian poet, essayist and literary critic who translated authors such as Proust and Baudelaire from French, and also Max und Moritz by German humorist Wilhelm Busch. Caproni was born and raised in Livorno, until his family moved to Genova. There, he also studied violin, and composition, at the Giuseppe Verdi Institute of Music. From composition he moved into poetry, and gave up his musical ambitions at the age of 18. He then studied literature and wrote his first poems. In 1933-34, he saw military service in San Remo, before moving to Roma. During World War II, he was called to arms, but his experiences in the war made him a resistance fighter. After the war, Caproni went to Roma where he worked for many years as a primary school teacher. His later poetry was influenced by the hardship of the war. He never became part of the literary circles in Roma, but is considered one of the greatest Italian poets of the 20th century.

Two of his works were submitted for the 1948 art competitions: Il giuoco del Pallone (The game of football) is a short story originally published in pieces in various magazines between 1947 and 1948. It is contained in the 2008 anthology Racconti scritti per forza (Tales written by force). Le biciclette is a poem from the 1952 book Stanze della funicolare (Stations of the aerial railway).