Francesco Mastriani

Born in Naples in 1819 and dying there in 1891, Francesco Mastriani was an Italian writer, journalist, and playwright best known for his hugely successful serial novels. From early in his career, he showed a strong interest in the lives of Naples’s poorer and marginalized communities, bringing social issues into fast-moving, accessible fiction.

He wrote for a broad public rather than an elite literary circle, which helped make his work popular with contemporary readers. That mix of entertainment and social attention is a big part of why he remains notable today: his fiction offers both melodrama and a striking picture of 19th-century Neapolitan life.

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