Pitigrilli

<h2 id="biography">Biography</h2>
<h3>Early life and family</h3>
Dino Segre was born in <a href="/facts/Turin/PudIVEnr">Turin</a>. His mother was Catholic and his father was Jewish; he was baptized a Catholic. He went to local schools and to the <a href="/facts/University_of_Turin%2c_Faculty_of_Law/sfn5mmz8">University of Turin, Faculty of Law</a>, where he graduated in 1916. After university, he spent time among literary and art circles in Paris.
Segre had a short-lived relationship with the poet <a href="/facts/Amalia_Guglielminetti/AQRCCahd">Amalia Guglielminetti</a>. In 1932 he married a Jewish woman after she became pregnant during their relationship. They married outside the Catholic Church. They had one son, Gianni Segre. By the late 1930s, they had long been separated and were living apart, but there was no divorce in Italy.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>
It was Pitigrilli's marriage to a Jewish woman more than his own ancestry that initially made him the focus of the 1938 Racial Laws. By 1939 he was being referred to in OVRA files as a "Jewish writer."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a> Claiming to seek exemption from the Racial Laws for his son, in 1938 Pitigrilli sought a ruling on his marriage from the <a href="/facts/Holy_See/7tK8AceC">Vatican</a>, which held it had never happened, as it took place outside the church. They ruled his first wife was effectively a concubine. 
In July 1940 in Genoa, after he had already been interned as a Jew in Uscio, a small town nearby, Pitigrilli married the attorney Lina Furlan of Turin, who had handled his case with the Vatican. A Catholic, she was violating racial purity laws by marrying someone considered to be Jewish.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> They had a son in mid-1943, Pier Maria Furlan, who was baptized a Catholic.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a>

<h3>Career</h3>
As a young adult, Segre started working as a journalist and novelist in Turin, a centre of literary culture. His early experiences in Paris inspired his most famous novel, Cocaine (1921), published in Italian under his pseudonym of "Pitigrilli". Due to his portrayal of drug use and sex, the Catholic Church listed it as a "<a href="/facts/Index_librorum_prohibitorum/DEcvFQpm">forbidden book</a>."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a> It has been translated into numerous languages, reprinted in new editions, and become a classic.
Cocaine established Pitigrilli as a literary figure in Italy. It was not translated into English until 1933; it was reissued in the 1970s, and a release by <a href="/facts/New_Vessel_Press/DMSY4hP3">New Vessel Press</a> is scheduled for September 2013. The New York Times wrote: “The name of the author Pitigrilli … is so well known in Italy as to be almost a byword for ‘naughtiness’ … The only wonder to us is that some enterprising translator did not render some of his books available in English sooner.”<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> 
Alexander Stille, who documented Segre's later collaboration with the fascist government (see below), wrote:

<blockquote>Pitigrilli is a highly emblematic forgotten figure, a 'poète maudit' of Italy of the 1920s; his cynical comic satire describes the disillusioned world that followed <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a> and proved fertile for the triumph of <a href="/facts/Fascism/EhQWcPsE">fascism</a>."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a></blockquote>
In 1924 Segre founded the literary magazine Grandi Firme, which attracted a large readership of young literati. Rising young writers and illustrators had work featured in the magazine. Redesigned by <a href="/facts/C%25C3%25A9sar_Civita/ynPT2eSI">César Civita</a>, the magazine operated until 1938, when the Fascist government of <a href="/facts/Benito_Mussolini/q8UPaBlm">Benito Mussolini</a> banned publications owned by Jews under the <a href="/facts/Anti-Semitic/kUpfFkqx">anti-Semitic</a> <a href="/facts/Manifesto_of_Race/VDBrypgq">Race Laws</a>. 
Pitigrilli was noted as an <a href="/facts/Aphorist/hYudG9yF">aphorist</a>. Among his most well-known aphorisms are "Fragments: a providential resource for writers who don't know how to put together an entire book" and "Grammar: a complicated structure that teaches language but impedes speaking".

<h3>Fascism and World War II</h3>
From 1930 Segre started travelling around Europe, staying mainly in Paris with brief periods in Italy. In 1936 the fascist government prevented reprinting of his books, on moral grounds. Seeking to join the Fascist Party, he wrote directly to Mussolini in 1938.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> 
By that time, he was already working as an informant for <a href="/facts/Organization_for_Vigilance_and_Repression_of_Anti-Fascism/MtcSHuYl">OVRA</a>, the secret service of the Fascist government. He provided information about anti-fascist Jewish writers in his circle, as well as Jewish relatives. OVRA dismissed him in 1939, after he was exposed in Paris when a file including his name was found by French police in the flat of Vincenzo Bellavia, the OVRA director there.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> 
Despite his work for the government, Pitigrilli began to be persecuted as a Jew. His books were banned, as was his magazine, and he could not write for other magazines. In June 1940, Italy entered the war as an ally of Nazi Germany. Turin police included Pitigrilli on a list of "dangerous Jews" to be interned in the south of Italy in <a href="/facts/Apulia/svvnMLN5">Apulia</a>. He and his lawyer, with the help of the intervention of <a href="/facts/Edvige_Mussolini/wcb0b48x">Edvige Mussolini</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a> were able to have the place of internment changed to <a href="/facts/Uscio/yxjHWd5d">Uscio</a>, a small town near the Riviera that was two hours from Turin.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a> 
Pitigrilli appealed directly to the government for release from internal exile and was freed by the end of the year. By 1941 he went to Rome, where he wrote movie dialogue anonymously to circumvent the racial law and make some kind of living. He offered his services again to OVRA, saying his status as a persecuted Jew would provide him cover. He was seeking to have Aryan status confirmed, as he had been baptized Catholic. He was never rehired, and never gained a change in his racial status.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> 
In July 1943 Mussolini's fascist regime fell. Six weeks later the Germans occupied Italy, and Pitigrilli fled to neutral Switzerland. His wife and daughter, who were recorded as Catholic, could travel openly and joined him there. They lived in Switzerland until 1947 and after the war's end.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a>

<h3>Postwar years</h3>
In 1948 Segre and his family moved to Argentina, then under the rule of <a href="/facts/Juan_Per%25C3%25B3n/KQQm2xGI">Juan Perón</a>. They remained there for ten years. He continued to write but had no novels published in Italy from 1938 to 1948.
In 1958, Pitigrilli moved with his family again, returning to Europe to live in Paris. He occasionally visited his house in <a href="/facts/Turin/PudIVEnr">Turin</a>, which he had managed to keep. He continued to write and publish novels as Pitigrilli until 1974. He died in Turin in 1975.
Following his death, his Dolicocefala Bionda and L'Esperimento di Pott, two early novels, were re-issued in one edition in 1976 with an introduction by the noted Italian author <a href="/facts/Umberto_Eco/tDTJHXe6">Umberto Eco</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a> Eco wrote: “Pitigrilli was an enjoyable writer – spicy and rapid – like lightning”.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a>

<h3>Collaboration with the Fascist regime</h3>
In 1991 <a href="/facts/Alexander_Stille/tWMFgaau">Alexander Stille</a> published Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families under Fascism. Stille documents how Pitigrilli acted as an informant for the <a href="/facts/Fascist/EhQWcPsE">Fascist</a> secret police <a href="/facts/Organization_for_Vigilance_and_Repression_of_Anti-Fascism/MtcSHuYl">OVRA</a> during the 1930s, until 1939.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> Stille noted that the Fascist secret police used intelligence from these conversations to arrest and prosecute anti-fascist Jewish friends and relatives of Pitigrilli.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> 
Stille used many documents and accounts by members of the clandestine anti-fascist movement <a href="/facts/Giustizia_e_Libert%25C3%25A0/5T2QYyFC">Giustizia e Libertà</a> (Justice and Freedom) operating in Turin. An Italian post-war government committee investigating collaborators and OVRA concluded about the writer: "…the last doubt (on Pitigrilli being OVRA informant number 373) could not stand after the unequivocal and categorical testimonies … about encounters and confidential conversations that took place exclusively with Pitigrilli".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a>

<h2 id="works">Works</h2>
<ul><li>Mammiferi di Lusso (1920)</li>
<li>Cocaina (1921)</li>
<li>The Man Who Searched for Love (1929)</li>
<li>L'esperimento di Pott (1929)</li>
<li>Dolicocefala Bionda (1936)</li>
<li>Le Amanti. La Decadenza del Paradosso (1938)</li>
<li>La Piscina di Siloe (1948)</li>
<li>La moglie di Putifarre (1953)</li>
<li>Amore a Prezzo Fesso (short stories, 1963)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a></li>
<li>La Donna di 30, 40, 50, 60 Anni (1967)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a></li>
<li>L'Ombelico di Adamo. Peperoni dolci (1970)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a></li>
<li>Sette delitti (1971)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a></li>
<li>Nostra Signora di Miss Tif (1974)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a></li></ul>
<h3>English translations</h3>
<ul><li>The Man Who Searched for Love, translated by Warre B. Wells. New York: R. M. McBride & Company, 1932.</li>
<li>Cocaine, New York: Greenberg, 1933. Reissued in 1974, AND/OR Press, San Francisco. Reissue in 2013 by <a href="/facts/New_Vessel_Press/DMSY4hP3">New Vessel Press</a>, released on 15 September 2013.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3598833;view=1up;seq=7">Angiolo Paschetta, Il fenomeno Pitigrilli</a> (in Italian), Torino: Casa Editrice Sfinge, 1922, text online at Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">"Biography" Archived 2009-09-01 at the Wayback Machine, Pitigrilli website (in Italian)) <a href="http://www.pitigrilli.com/pitibio/bio.htm" target="_blank">http://www.pitigrilli.com/pitibio/bio.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Alexander Stille. Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families under Fascism, p. 356. Picador, 1991 (reissued by Macmillan, 2003) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, p. 151 <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, p. 155 <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Cocaine, New Vessel Press <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/" target="_blank">http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Cocaine, New Vessel Press <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/" target="_blank">http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Cocaine, New Vessel Press <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/" target="_blank">http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">"Pitigrilli, alias Dino Segre". www.italialibri.net. Retrieved 31 January 2022. <a href="http://www.italialibri.net/autori/segred.html" target="_blank">http://www.italialibri.net/autori/segred.html</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, p. 155 <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, p. 155 <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Cocaine, New Vessel Press <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/" target="_blank">http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Alexander Stille. Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families under Fascism, p. 356. Picador, 1991 (reissued by Macmillan, 2003) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Stille (1991/2003), Benevolence and Betrayal, pp. 150-152 <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Alexander Stille. Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families under Fascism, p. 356. Picador, 1991 (reissued by Macmillan, 2003) <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=1hW219ey4CwC&dq=benevolence+and+betrayal</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">"Pitigrilli", search for works, Hathi Trust Digital Library, University of California, accessed 23 June 2013 <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls" target="_blank">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?field1=ocr;q1=Pitigrilli;a=srchls</a> <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:27">Cocaine, New Vessel Press <a href="http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/" target="_blank">http://newvesselpress.com/books/cocaine/</a> <a href="#fnref:27" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Pitigrilli open-in-new

Pitigrilli