[Diario in pubblico] is easily another indisputable proof of the vitality, intelligence and range of one of the foremost contemporary Italian men of letters…. It is a prime document to understand in depth the socio-political scene of today's Italy, as well as Vittorini's own poetics. In a larger sense, too, it is a history full of valuable observations on the cultural torment endured by a whole generation of Italians brought up under fascism. (p. 95)

These pages … contribute substantially to presenting a sharper image than the other, woefully neglected side of this artist's complex personality: that of the critic, the vigorous social and political polemicist, the passionate and sharp raisonneur who comments upon a multitude of crucial issues of his, and any other modern generation….

Diario in pubblico is a kind of spiritual and intellectual autobiography, written without the usual concessions, retractions, revelations of a sensitive artist (say, Gide...