Alberto Denti di Pirajno (7 March 1886 – 15 January 1968) was an Italian writer, medical doctor, and gastronome. He is now best known for his 1955 book, A Cure for Serpents.
Biography
editAlberto Denti, Duke of Pirajno,[1] was born in La Spezia in 1886. He was educated at the University of Florence and spent almost twenty years (1924–1942) as the personal physician of the Duke of Aosta.[2] He was the governor of Tripoli, the capital of Libya, from 1941 until 1943, when he surrendered the city to British forces. His first novel, Ippolita, was awarded the "Orio Vergani" prize.[3]
Alberto Denti died in Rome in 1968.
The lyrics of the David Bowie song "Heroes" (1977) were partly inspired by his book 'A Grave For A Dolphin', one of Bowie's favorite books.[4]
Works
edit- A Cure for Serpents (1955).
- A Grave for a Dolphin (1956).
- Ippolita (1961).
- The Love Song of Mara Lumera (1964).
References
edit- ^ Timmis, Christopher (2008). "A Cure for Serpents," BMJ, Vol. 336, p. 161.
- ^ Healey, Robin (1998). Twentieth-century Italian Literature in English Translation: An Annotated Bibliography 1929–1997. University of Toronto Press, p. 76.
- ^ Healey (1998), p. 117.
- ^ "David Bowie's Hit Song Heroes was Inspired by a Book Both he and Iman Loved". cheatsheet.com. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
External links
edit- Alberto Denti di Pirajno: Medico, Funzionario, Scrittore, by Marianna Scarfone