Corrado Govoni

Corrado Govoni was born in Ferrara, Italy on October 20, 1884. Having had very little formal schooling, Govoni was mainly working in agriculture until he moved to Florence in 1903, where he befriended Italian poets Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Aldo Palazzeschi, and Sergio Corazzini, among others.

Having collaborated on publications such as Poesia, La Riviera ligure, and La Voce, Govoni was most known as inherently a Symbolist poet associated with the early Futurist movement. He is the author of numerous collections of poetry including Electrical Poems (1911) and Rarefactions and Words in Freedom (1915), which was completely written by hand and is known for its interplay between text and imagery.

At various times throughout his life, Govoni worked as the vice-director of the books section of the Società Italiana Autori ed Editori as well as in the municipal archives in Rome. After his son was killed in 1944 during a Nazi massacre at Fosse Ardeatine, Govoni wrote the elegy “Aladino: Lament for my Dead Son.” He died in Rome in October 20, 1965.