author
Paolo Valera
1850–1926
A fierce Italian journalist and novelist, he wrote about poverty, city life, and social injustice with an energy that still feels immediate. His work helped bring the voices of ordinary people into modern Italian literature.
1 Audiobook
Dal cellulare a Finalborgo
by Paolo Valera
About the author
Born in Como on January 18, 1850, Paolo Valera became known as an Italian journalist and writer linked to verismo, the literary movement that turned toward everyday reality. Biographical sources describe him as coming from modest circumstances, and that background stayed close to his writing, which often focused on workers, the poor, and the crowded life of the modern city.
Valera was a restless, outspoken figure in Milanese cultural and political life. Reference works note his strong democratic and social concerns, and he is especially remembered for works such as La plebe di Milano and La folla, as well as for founding and directing the weekly newspaper La folla in 1901. His prose was direct, vivid, and often polemical, shaped by a desire to expose inequality rather than smooth it over.
He died in Milan on May 1, 1926. Today he is remembered as a distinctive voice in Italian journalism and literature: combative, deeply engaged with the lives of ordinary people, and committed to showing the rougher truths behind the idea of a polished modern city.