Appreciated by the regime, which rewarded him with a substantial annuity and for which he composed the words of Giovinezza!, was in reality, as a good Savoy, more royalist than fascist and resolutely refused to join the Social Republic which banned his works. Between fascism and the post-war period there is continuity in his literary production and in the public acceptance that other authors of bestseller pre-war compromised with the regime, they can not boast. Long lived,he continued to write until his death. Some of her works undoubtedly have that setting and that rhythm that makes them cinematic so much so that cinema produced many adaptations of his stories, despite the fact that the writer didn't have much sympathy for the medium. A writer that the baby boomer generation can still remember without the need for Google.
In the troubled years of the war and the first post-war period, which were an authentic forge of popularly successful novelists, another writer with an inexhaustible artistic vein had to reveal himself to the general public: Salvator Gotta. His extraordinary creativity would give rise to over 70 novels, and would have extended to other related sectors, such as theatre, cinema, journalism. And, why not, it would also come to something absolutely new, the composition of the official anthem of the regime, Giovinezza. In short, Salvator Gotta was a multi-faceted character: a brilliant and tireless narrator, certainly, but many other things as well.
La life
He was born in 1887 near Turin. He comes from a respectable family, his father is a magistrate and his mother, Luigia Pavese, comes from a "cultured" family, linked to that of Cesare Pavese. He completed his classical studies and graduated in both law and literature.
His professional career began as a lawyer in a firm in Ivrea. It is the sector towards which the parent obviously directs him. But the world that irresistibly attracts him is that of letters, frequented since his university years, so much so that he accompanies the legal profession with that of collaborator of newspapers and magazines. He also composes early writings published at his expense, as is the case for a collection of short stories in which one breathes vaguely crepuscular atmospheres, perhaps inspired by friendship with and acquaintance with Guido Gozzano, his fellow student at the university.
Il difficult debut narrative
In 1912, at the age of 25, he made his debut with a novel, Pia, followed by other works of little importance, to tell the truth. But war is looming in 1915 Gotta volunteered and participated in military operations without ever backing down, so much so that he even deserved a silver medal for valor. The experience in the army will be useful to him about ten years later, when he will publish the children's book more in line with the educational intentions of fascism: The little alpine. Nothing to do with the restless Pinocchio and Gian Burrasca, too transgressive, nor with Heart, too corny for the mythology of the regime. Giacomino Rasi, on the other hand, the protagonist of the novel, becomes the perfect incarnation of the little fascist. The success was immediate and of great proportions, which Gotta himself summarized in his memoirs at the end of the XNUMXs (theGout Almanac) in over 400.000 copies sold, which for the times are certainly no small thing.
In the same vein, and marked even more by colonialist, nationalist and fascist mythology, are also the two "sequels": The other war of the little alpine 1935 and The little legionnaire in East Africa of 1938. They show on the one hand the author's adherence to the ideology of the regime and on the other the predilection for serial works.
Readers had already been aware of his predilection for seriality for some time, given that in 1917 the writer had begun the most substantial series of Italian "literature" of all time: "La saga dei Vela".
The three goMondadori books, published in 1954, that contain i 13 novels of La saga de I Sail. One hundred years of life of an Italian family, (1850–1950). The first volume contains Romantic prelude, Our passion, The sun on the fields. The second: Time of Queen Margaret, The restless son, The most beautiful woman in the world, World War I, The provincial lover. Ithe yourzo: Three worlds, Squid, The original sin, The psychics, Tomorrow to you. In 1965, L'ultimo dei Vela was added.
La saga of the Vela: la more long of literature Italian company
The Sailing Saga it consists of 22 novels, then reduced to 13 when it will be revived, reworked, in the mid-fifties, in three large Mondadori volumes. The series begins with The restless son of 1917 and develops until 1954, when the final work is released. It is a long series of novels, which cover a century of Italian life and history, from 1850 to 1950: a cycle that has no counterpart in our country, given that at the time we generally came to trilogies or quadrilogies, but a series of novels undetective so long it had never had, nor would it be seen again.
In the thirties Gotta is firmly in the hearts of readers together with Brocchi, D'Ambra and Milanesi, while Da Verona is declining, Pitigrilli publishes only a couple of books and Mariani has fled to South America.
The adventure in movies
The 1934 film Everybody's Lady directed by Max Ophüls with Miranda Memo Benassi is based on a story by Salvator Gotta. This production marks the major debuttante by Isa Miranda, who thanks to this film becomes a major star of the Italian cinema of the time. The song of the same name became a huge national hit.
In addition to the novels, to which he is contractually obliged to compose one a year (but in reality there will be more), Gotta is also dedicated to theater and cinema. It dates back to 1936 Bard's maid, his greatest theatrical success, transposed in the same year into a film directed by Mario Mattoli and interpreted by a passionate Emma Gramatica.
Cinema certainly owes him a lot in those years; his versatility in writing proves to be an inexhaustible mine for the big screen. Some subjects for highly successful films are taken from his novels, as is the case for Everyone's lady. Gotta had written the novel for a magazine, "Novella", at the invitation of one of the founders, Tomaso Monicelli, the father of the director Mario Monicelli, a friend and brother-in-law of Arnoldo Mondadori, who had married his sister Andreina. Following the publication of the novel, the weekly immediately jumped from 180 to 250 copies. The book is then made into a film, directed by M. Ophuls in 1934, starring Isa Miranda and Memo Benassi, was awarded at the Venice Film Festival and achieved great success. They are also worthy of being remembered Cavalleria, directed by G.Alessandrini in 1936, Goodbye youth in 1940, The fugitive in 1941.
In short, success for Gotta is guaranteed, whatever he touches. Of course, we are not talking about the hundreds of thousands of copies of titles as for the great best sellers of Da Verona or Pitigrilli, nor about the 150.000 copies of Brocchi's greatest successes, but of circulations ranging from 70 to 80.000 copies for titles more fortunate, which then drop to 20-30.000 copies for the less famous ones. Which, however, multiplied by the dozens and dozens of works that he prints, is no small thing for the period.
... e also for la television
It must also be said that Gotta's books continue to circulate long after the fall of the regime, which does not happen to the same extent for his writing colleagues. Furthermore some of his works were adapted for the small screen until the end of the eighties. We recall, in this regard, the television adaptation that Anton Giulio Majano makes in 1959 of his nineteenth century, with Sergio Fantoni, Lea Padovani and a young Virna Lisi: a script in five episodes which at the time was highly appreciated by the public also for its fidelity to the historical context, the care of the screenplay, the attention to detail, to the setting, the clothes, the characters. After all, it is the world of the Risorgimento that Gotta loves deeply, that she would have described at length and for which she had prepared herself with meticulous studies.
After a few years, in 1967, directed by Piero Schivazappa, another script for TV was released based on his works, this time dedicated to Cavour, played by Renzo Palmer. Finally, in 1986, a television adaptation of the Piccolo alpino, entitled Mino, directed by Gianfranco Albano.
Uno writer all things considered reassuring for il regime
With Brocchi, D'Ambra and Milanesi, Gotta also shares a certain sympathy for the regime, despite the fact that among them there are political positions not entirely in line with those of fascism. Virgilio Brocchi, for example, was of proven socialist faith, albeit reformist and humanitarian, but was cleared by Mondadori, of which he represented, in those years, the spearhead.
The novels of these narrators transmit content that is all in all reassuring for government authorities and highly appreciated by readers. From Verona, Pitigrilli and Mariani are instead for one reason or another more "transgressive", more dangerous narrators, even if Pitigrilli is a spy of the regime, a secret agent of the political police, the OVRA.
And the regime will never forget them, supports them, supports them, promotes their work to the public, rewards them, grants D'Ambra and Gotta, the appointment as members of the Academy of Italy, a very prestigious position, endowed with a monthly allowance of 3.000 lire per month, when a third of the sum represents the dream of an average Italian ('If I could have 1000 lire a month….') . And then Gotta hadn't composed in 1925 what had become the official anthem of the regime, Youth? He had done so at the invitation of a musician friend, Giuseppe Blanc, his schoolmate, who was looking for the right words for the march (among other things used first for a goliardic song on words by Nino Oxilia, then as a hymn for the arditi during the war and in 1919 as an anthem of the squadristi). In a very short time Gotta had churned out the text that everyone sang during fascism.
More royalist is fascist
However, Gotta's adherence to fascism is a consequence of that towards the monarchy, which for a Turinese like him is natural and almost obligatory. So much so that the writer, as a good monarchist, did not adhere to the social republic of Salò and was considered a traitor, to the point that at the end of the war the circulation of his books was prohibited.
In any case, to avoid problems, and the bombings during the war, Gotta moved from Milan to Portofino, in his "villa degli aranci", where he had spent the summer period for twenty years. And there he continues to give vent to his irrepressible literary creativity. In three years he composed about ten novels there.
La recovery after la war
During the XNUMXs Gout, inexhaustible and tireless, took up the pen again and waits, among other things, also for the composition of fictional books on the history of the Risorgimento, his authentic and genuine passion, which takes shape in volumes such as Red Shirts 1860, Cavour: man and genius, Italia 1861.
But, it was said, his creative vein does not end with novels. And he, who had already collaborated with various magazines and newspapers, so much so that he was a long-time columnist for the "Corriere della sera", now over seventy, finds a way to make his way back into the hearts of readers. These are no longer what they used to be, now they are used to other types of writing, to other stories, and for them those of the past now appear inexorably outdated. His new readers are now their children and their grandchildren: the little readers of… Mickey Mouse. For these young people Gotta kept for many years, until almost his death, the column of letters "Salvator Gotta replies to ...", where he disserted on topics of history, culture, current affairs, various humanity, sometimes even on challenging issues, gaining, once again time, a great success.
He died in 1980 at the age of 93.
