The Vittoriale degli Italiani acquires the Giovanni Rizzo correspondence

The documentary collection includes 83 handwritten documents – letters, minutes and autographed envelopes – for a total of over one hundred papers, partly unpublished, sent by d’Annunzio to the police officer Giovanni Rizzo. Until now remaining in private hands, the correspondence represents a fundamental piece for reconstructing not only the history of the Vittoriale, but also the complex network of relationships that linked d’Annunzio to the fascist regime and to his own family. Arriving at the Vittoriale on 24 September 1923 on the orders of General Emilio De Bono, Rizzo had the official task of investigating a jewel theft, but his real mission was to report all the writer’s moves to Mussolini. Over the years, the relationship between the two went well beyond the surveillance mandate: Rizzo became a privileged interlocutor, secretary, confidant and, to some extent, friend of the Pope.

The letters acquired today provide a much more complex picture than that outlined by Rizzo in his 1941 autobiography, “Diary of struggles and poetry”. D’Annunzio himself defines their bond as “much more delicate than love”: a singular, profound and sometimes conflicting friendship, in which the controller transforms into the person to whom the Poet entrusts his most intimate anxieties. Particularly significant are the pages dedicated to the moments of fracture with fascism. D’Annunzio expresses severe judgments towards Mussolini, especially when he feels betrayed, as in the case of the failure to appoint personalities close to him – Ildebrando Pizzetti, Giuseppe Brunati and Gian Francesco Malipiero – to the Italian Academy: “The Prime Minister has not only failed against friendship but against honour”. And again, we find a private d’Annunzio in the letters: the pain for the relationship with his son Gabriellino, the obsessions, the superstitions, the construction of the Vittoriale. This correspondence shows a d’Annunzio devoid of the rhetoric of official speeches. The acquisition of the fund, in addition to representing an important operation for the protection of the national historical and documentary heritage, offers the public and scholars the possibility of accessing a precious testimony of the most human and authentic dimension of the Pope. The entire correspondence, explained Guerri, will soon be digitized and made available within the Vittoriale Archives.

Born in Messina on 17 December 1885, Giovanni Rizzo joined the Police in 1908, distinguishing himself with delicate missions in Berlin, Paris and Brussels. An early fascist, he was personally chosen by Mussolini to monitor Gabriele d’Annunzio at the Vittoriale, where he arrived on 24 September 1923. Despite his role as controller and secret informer (he constantly reported to Rome via encrypted telegrams), he became an indispensable figure for the poet, acting as a filter with the outside world and manager of his financial and personal crises. His career advanced in parallel with his stay in Gardone: promoted to deputy police commissioner, then police commissioner in 1930 and finally prefect in 1934. He remained at d’Annunzio’s side until the latter’s death in 1938. He died in Rome in 1962, leaving with his writings one of the most ambiguous and fascinating testimonies on the twilight of the Pope.