Vamba
| Vamba | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
Luigi Bertelli 19 March 1858 Florence, Italy |
| Died |
27 November 1920 (aged 62) Florence, Italy |
| Occupation | Author |
Luigi Bertelli (19 March 1858 - 27 November 1920), best known as Vamba, was an Italian author, illustrator and journalist.
Born in Florence, having completed his studies Bertelli became a railway employer, working first in Rimini and later in Foggia.[1] He later started collaborating with the Roman newspaper Capitan Fracassa and in 1984 he was officially employed as a journalist and caricaturist.[1] He soon adopted the pseudonym "Vamba", named after the clown of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.[1] After collaborating with several newspapers, in 1890 he founded and directed L'O di Giotto, a newspaper close to the radical political positions of Felice Cavallotti, and in 1901 he co-founded the regional newspaper Il Bruscolo.[1] Best known as a children's author, in 1893 Vamba wrote his first pedagogical novel, Ciondolino, and in 1906 he founded and directed until 1911 the nonconformist children magazine Il giornalino della Domenica.[1] Here, he released in sequential installments his best known novel, Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca, the pedagogical and humorous story of a lively teenager.[1] In the summer of 1920 he fell ill, dying on November 27, 1920.[1]
A funerary monument made by the sculptor Libero Andreotti was inaugurated in Florence on January 14, 1923.[1]
References
Further reading
- Lea Nissim Rossi. Vamba: Luigi Bertelli. Le Monnier, 1954.
- Armando Michieli. Vamba. La Scuola, 1965.
- Lea Nissim Rossi. Luigi Bertelli (Vamba). Mondadori Education, 1967. ISBN 8800863507.
- Anna Ascenzi, Maila Di Felice, Raffaele Tumino. Santa giovinezza!: lettere di Luigi Bertelli e dei suoi corrispondenti, 1883-1920. Alfabetica Edizioni, 2008. ISBN 8890250933.
- Roberta Anau. Gian Burrasca. Ragazzi di marzapane e cervello di crema. La cucina di Vamba. Il leone verde edizioni, 2010. ISBN 8865800046.