Mario Luzi, one of the most important Italian poets and scholars, was born in Castello, near Florence, on 20 October 1914. His parents, Ciro and Margherita Papini Luzi, were originally from the region of Alta Maremma; his father was the station-master at Castello. Educated at schools in Florence and Siena, in 1935 Mario Luzi made his book-publishing debut with the poetry volume La barca (The Boat). In 1936 he graduated with a degree from the University of Florence, having majored in French literature. His thesis on François Mauriac was published two years later with the title L'opium chrétien (Christian Opium), which illustrates his philosophical inclinations of those early years. Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was the professor in the Florentine athenaeum who introduced him to the study of French literature. Other literary masters, as he would recall years later (in Sergio Pautasso's Mario Luzi, 1981), helped him define his future as...