Giovanni Papini (edit name/settings)

Born in Florence as the son of a modest furniture retailer (and former member of Giuseppe Garibaldi's Redshirts) from Borgo degli Albizi, Papini was baptized secretly to avoid the aggressive atheism of his father, and he lived a rustic, lonesome, and precociously introspective childhood. From that time onwards he felt a strong aversion to all beliefs, to all churches, as well as to any form of servitude (which he saw as connected to religion); he also became enchanted with the impossible idea of writing an encyclopedia wherein all cultures would be summarized.
Trained as a schoolteacher, he taught for a few years after 1899, then became a librarian. The literary life attracted Papini, who founded the magazine Il Leonardo, together with Giuseppe Prezzolini. He started publishing short-stories and essays and a long period of contributing to various magazines (as founder or editor) followed.
In 1912, he published his best-known work, the autobiography Un uomo finito (tr.: "The Failure").
In 1921, after being an atheist all his life (sometimes even aggressively so), Papini announced his newly-found Roman Catholicism, publishing the international bestseller essay Storia di Cristo ("Life of Christ").
After further verse works, he published the satire Gog (1931) and the essay Dante vivo (tr. "If Dante Were Alive"; 1933).
He moved towards Fascism, and his beliefs earned him a teaching position at the University of Bologna in 1935 (although his studies only qualified him for primary school teaching). In 1937, Papini published the only volume of his History of Italian Literature, which he dedicated to Benito Mussolini: "to Il Duce, friend of poetry and of the poets", being awarded top positions in academia.
He was largely discredited at the end of World War II given his affiliation with Mussolini and his reputation as an antisemite, but he was defended by the Catholic political right.
His work concentrated on different subjects, including a biography of Michelangelo, while he continued to publish dark and tragic essays. He collaborated with Corriere della Sera, contributing articles that were published as a volume after his death.