Roberto Sacchetti

Born in Turin on June 7, 1847, Roberto Sacchetti grew up in the years of the Risorgimento and was strongly marked by its ideals. As a young man he joined Garibaldi’s volunteers in the Third Italian War of Independence, then completed a law degree in Naples in 1868 before briefly working as a lawyer.

Literature and journalism soon took over. Sacchetti became active in the Piedmontese Scapigliatura, helping found the review Il Velocipede and moving in circles that included Giuseppe Giacosa and other important writers and artists of the time. After family hardships and the deaths of his parents, he moved to Milan, where he left legal work behind and wrote full time, serving as a leading editor at Il Pungolo and contributing to several prominent newspapers and magazines.

He is remembered as a novelist, storyteller, and journalist. Treccani highlights works such as the autobiographical Cesare Mariani (1876), the story collection Castello e cascina (1878), Candaule (1879), and Entusiasmi, published after his death. He also completed Memorie dal presbiterio. Scene di provincia, a novel left unfinished by Emilio Praga. Sacchetti died in Rome in 1881, at only 33 years old.