Paolo Valera

Born in Como in 1850 and raised in modest circumstances, Paolo Valera became one of the most outspoken Italian writers and journalists of his time. He took part in Garibaldi’s 1866 campaign while still very young, later settled in Milan, and built a career in journalism alongside a strong commitment to democratic and socialist causes.

Valera is remembered as a writer close to verismo, with a sharp eye for urban poverty and everyday violence. He founded and directed the weekly La folla in 1901, and much of his work focused on the lives of the poor, the excluded, and the laboring classes. His writing is often described as energetic, combative, and openly critical of bourgeois hypocrisy.

Rather than writing from a distance, he often immersed himself in the streets and neighborhoods he described, which gave his reporting and fiction a vivid, restless quality. He died in Milan in 1926, leaving behind a body of work that still stands out for its social anger, popular language, and sympathy for people at the margins.