Fulvio Tomizza

Fulvio Tomizza (26 January 1935 – 21 May 1999) was an Italian writer. He was born in Giurizzani di Materada in Istria, to a middle-class family of ancient southern Dalmatian origins (his ancestor's name was Jure Jurcan [Zorzi Giurizzano], and came there in the 16th century in order to escape from the Ottoman invasion; southern Dalmatia and Istria were at the time both under the rule of the Republic of Venice; Venice was interested in the migration: Istria at the time was indeed underpopulated because of an epidemic). Tomizza grew up in a zone where the dialect was mixed (Venetian mixed with Slavic words or Slavic mixed with Venetian words).

He completed high school at the Italian Liceo "Carlo Combi" of Capodistria (now Koper, in Slovenia). After the diploma, he had experiences of study and work in Yugoslavia (Faculty of humanities in Belgrade and the shooting of a movie in Ljubljana).

Following the 1954 annexation of Zone B by Yugoslavia, Tomizza moved to Trieste.

Most of his writing career took place there, including three books (Materada, La miglior vita, La quinta stagione) set in the Istria of his youth.

Other works include the figure of the bishop-reformer Pier Paolo Vergerio, the life of the exiled Istrians in Italy, some events concerning the Slovenian community in Italy (one couple mysteriously killed during World War II in Trieste and the love story between an Italian official and a Slovenian girl; each story is based on true facts, using original letters), some fictions set in the Venetian territory and various articles (also effect of his trips as reporter).

The two books translated into English and published in the U.S. are Heavenly Supper: The Story of Maria Janis, translated by Anne Jacobson Shutte (an expert on Pier Paolo Vergerio), and Materada (Writings from an Unbound Europe), translated by Russell Scott Valentino.

A study on the author in English: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:be1d8655-e5b6-40e1-94b7-7c173808e8a1

• 1969 Viareggio Prize
• 1977 Strega Prize
• 1979 Austrian State Prize for European Literature
• 1986 Vilenica Prize