Alberto Savinio presents one of the most interesting figures in Italian art and literature of the twentieth century. An eclectic and restless spirit, he engaged in the most diverse forms of art with extraordinarily expressive results. He was a writer, a musician, a painter, a journalist, an essayist, a playwright, and a set designer. According to the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, the multitalented Savinio approached creative expression much like a genius of the Renaissance. In addition, he was among the few Italian authors who played a significant role in the broader scene of the European avant-garde.

Savinio was born Andrea De Chirico on 25 August 1891 in Athens, Greece, to parents of Italian origin. He always considered his birth in a foreign country the first step in a life that was out of the ordinary. In his case, to be Italian was a choice, or an act of deliberate will--not...