Born in Florence on 10 September 1917 to a Catholic mother and non-Orthodox Jewish father, Franco Lattes (later Fortini) experienced firsthand the important literary culture of that city during the Fascist period. He studied the figurative arts (writing a thesis on Rosso Fiorentino) and then the law. His family suffered economic hardships even before the institution of the race laws in 1938. In addition, the young poet endured a life-threatening illness and operation. In 1939 he was baptized in the Waldensian church, a decision which he connected to his "Calvinistic" formation and to his "aesthetic religion" of choice, that of Dante and Masaccio. To avoid discrimination he adopted the beginning of his mother's surname (Fortini del Giglio) and in 1945 moved to Milan, where he still lives.

During World War II Fortini served in the Italian military until 8 September 1943, when he fled to Switzerland. He joined the Italian Socialist party in 1944 and worked...