From a wealthy Venetian family, Fogazzaro was educated at the University of Padua where he studied law, primarily at the behest of his father. His own true interest was in literature and he began writing poetry in school, some of which was published in various periodicals. After receiving his degree in 1864, he practiced law in Milan. In 1873, he published Miranda, a verse poem that was well-received. In 1881, he published his first novel, Malombra, an historical fiction that was acclaimed at the time. In 1895, the first of his trilogy, Piccolo Mondo Antico, appeared and the remaining volumes Piccolo Mondo Moderna (1901) and Il Santo (The Saint) (1906), were published over the next ten years. In 1896, Fogazzaro was elected to the Italian senate. Although deeply religious, Fogazzaro was nevertheless interested in the reform of the Catholic church. In 1899, after reading Darwin's Origin of Species, he proposed a reconciliation with Christianity's version of mankind's origins with that of the evolutionists. Naturally, this led to friction between himself and the Vatican. In 1911, shortly before his death, two of his works, Il Santo and Leila (1910), were placed on the Vatican's index of banned books. Fogazzaro's other works include Daniele Cortis (1885), Fedele (1887), The Poet Mystery (1888), Essays (1898), Science and Suffering (1898) and Suffering in Art (1901). |
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