Biography
Savona, 14 December 1836 – Carcare, 14 August 1908
Anton Giulio Barrili was born in Savona on 14 December 1836, to Luigi Barile and Maura Pertica; in fact his real surname was Barile, as reported in his first work Drammi published in Genoa in 1857.
He spent his early childhood with his family in Nice, where his father carried out commercial activities, and then returned to Savona to study humanities at the Piarist Fathers’ College (Collegio dei Padri Scolopi). They not only provided him with a pre-military education and transmitted a worldview based on a sense of duty and sacrifice, but enrich his mind with patriotic ideals and a sense of civic commitment that will lead to his participation in the Second War of Independence. Barrili finished his studies with honours at the Piarist Schools (Scuole Pie) receiving the title of Prince of the Academy in 1851.
Still very young he moved to Genoa where he graduated from the Faculty of Law; at the same time he began his long journalistic career by publishing a weekly magazine, entitled L’occhialetto, entirely written by him.
He achieved his fame as a writer when he joined the editorial staff of the daily newspaper San Giorgio, founded in 1859 and directed by Nino Bixio.
In 1859 he enlisted as a volunteer in the 7th Infantry Regiment of the Piedmontese forces, part of Royal Sardinian Army, participating in numerous war actions, later narrated in the novel La Montanara – Milan 1886.
Although Barrili did not participate directly in the Mille expedition by Garibaldi and as they left without weapons, he helped them finding numerous rifles near Talamone, a village not far from Grosseto in Tuscany.
In 1860 Barrili became a collaborator of the Genoese newspaper Il Movimento founded in 1854 by Mauro Macchi and soon became its director; under his leadership the daily paper acquired a more combative and uncompromising character, so to become the unofficial “voice” of Garibaldi. Some very controversial articles created many chivalric disputes, common acts for that era, including a duel following the events of Aspromonte, with an officer, during which he suffered a rather serious wound to his right hand.
In 1866 he left the direction of Il Movimento, responding to the Garibaldi appeal to the Genoese youth, and enjoined the 38,000 volunteers to follow the brave general in the military campaign in Trentino; Barrili fought heroically in the battles of Condino, Montesuello (near Brescia) and in all the most important fights as Commanding Officer with Col. Vincenzo Carbonelli.
On 3 November 1867 he fought in the Garibaldi rank and was wounded in the famous battle of Mentana. The dramatic and anguishing episode of that event is narrated in the volume With Garibaldi at the gates of Rome (Con Garibaldi alle porte di Roma), when the troops of “The hero of the two worlds”, in an attempt to free Rome, were defeated by the French army sent by Napoleon III to defend the Pope Pius IX.
In 1875 he returned to Genoa and founded the daily political newspaper Il Caffaro; in this way Barrili could spread, his political thought especially in Liguria, which led him to a brilliant political career.
In 1876 he ran for the Chamber of Deputies in the Left-wing lists and was elected in the Section of Albenga and, in the same year, he was also appointed Provincial Councillor in Sestri Levante. Failing to find his patriotic sense in the corrupt Italian politics, he soon decided to resign, but his resignations were unanimously rejected, until on 14 December 1879 when they were renewed and accepted by the Chamber.
After 1880 he dedicated to teaching in high school and focused on literary and journalistic production. Towards the end of 1884 he left the direction of Il Caffaro and moved to Rome to direct the weekly literary magazine La Domenica Letteraria.
Later he founded and directed with Ruggero Bonghi and Paolo Mantegazza, La Piccola Biblioteca del Popolo Italiano with educational and informative intent where he published the short story entitled “If I were a king!” (Se fossi re! – Firenze 1886).
Afterwords Barrili returned to Genoa and at the beginning was totally involved in teaching History of Navigation at the Naval High School, and then Italian literature to the female Magisterium for a short time.
In 1889 he became professor in charge of Italian Literature at the University of Genoa and, thanks to the support of Giosuè Carducci, who appreciated him for his patriotic love (amor patrio), in 1894 obtained the ordinariate at this Faculty, becoming later its Dean; in 1903 he was then elected “Magnificus Rector Universitatis”.
During these years he collaborate and assumed the role of director of the daily political and commercial-maritime Colombo, founded by his friends traders and shipowners; in the meantime, as vice-president of the Ligurian Society of Motherland History, public commemorations, historical monographs and, with the title of Proceedings and memoirs (Atti e Memorie), the complete work of Goffredo Mameli.
Barrili was often used to go to Val Bormida, to get away from the numerous institutional commitments in order to better follow the studies of his nephew Pier Luigi Breschi who was a student of the College “San Giuseppe Calasanzio” of Carcare. It’s right here where he built Villa Maura that soon became a meeting place for friends, writers and artists.
He passed away on 14 August 1908 in Carcare, and at his Villa Maura residence is now located the Museum dedicated to him and the Civic Library of the municipality of Carcare. The archive of the historical fund and the rich correspondence are here preserved together with many copies of his works and several notes drawn up for university school lessons, as well as memorabilia and everyday objects.
Anton Giulio Barrili has always been unanimously considered a man of vast culture and a good Latinist as well as an able and elegant orator. His remarkable speeches on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America, those to commemorate the martyrs of Giovine Italia – Giuseppe Mazzini, Hugo, Goffredo Mameli – and especially the most heartfelt of all the speech in death of Giuseppe Garibaldi that took place in Genoa in 1882, are still well known.
In his fifty or so novels and collections of short stories, he proves to be a pleasant and polite storyteller with a simple and correct style. His stories have been very successful, especially among female readers and his kind love stories retain all the flavour and charm of that era.
To contemporary, discursive and elegant novels: Capitan Dodero – Genova 1865 (Captain Dodero); Il libro nero – Milano 1868 (Black Book); Come un sogno – Milano 1875 (Like a dream); (Cuor di ferro e cuor d’oro – Milano 1877 (Iron heart and gold heart); L’olmo e l’edera – Genova 1877 (The elm and the ivy); Il ponte del Paradiso – Genova 1904 (The Paradise Bridge), he alternated those of historical adventurous subject: Santa Cecilia – Milano 1866 (Saint Cecilia); I Rossi e i Neri ovvero I misteri di Genova – Milano 1870 (The Reds and Blacks or The Mysteries of Genoa); Semiramide – Milano 1873; La conquista d’Alessandro – Milano 1879 (The Conquest of Alexander) in which the Roman noble life in the early 1870s is described in a cheerful way; L’anello di Salomone – Milano 1833 (The Ring of Solomon), a fictional re-enactment of the kingdom and the loves of the biblical king; the “Colombian cycle” including the novels Le due Beatrici – Genova 189 (The two Beatrici), Terra Vergine – 1892 (Virgin Land), I figli del Cielo – Milano 1893 (Heaven Children), Fior d’oro – Milano 1895 (Golden flower), Raggio di Dio – Milano 1898 (Ray of God).
Barrili was fascinated by the works of Eugène Sue, author of the Mysteries of Paris, and Carlo Lorenzini, better known as Collodi, author of the Mysteries of Florence and the well-known fairy tale “The adventures of Pinocchio”. Given the success that in the nineteenth century the subgenre of “mysteries” collects among European readers, he began to describe in detail the environment and the Genoese society of the nineteenth century. His work entitled The Mysteries of Genoa, contemporary chronicles, came out in 1866 and was published in the form of an appendix novel in the magazine Il Movimento. Following the considerable success it received, in 1871 it was collected in volumes and published under the title I Rossi e i Neri (The Reds and Blacks) by Treves editor.
Il merlo bianco – Roma 1879 (The white blackbird) a funny tale remarkable for invention and style, is a singular mixture of extraordinary adventures, delicate allegories, bizarre reveries, pseudo-scientific sarcastic comments.
In his literary production reporting autobiographical memories, as well as Memorie Garibaldine, Il Dantino – Milano 1888 and Sorrisi di Gioventù, ricordi e note – Milano 1898 (Smiles of youth – Memories and notes), we can find the most appreciated works of Anton Giulio Barrili.