dAnnunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio, often known simply as d'Annunzio, was an Italian writer, poet, playwright, journalist, and soldier born on 12 March 1863 in Pescara and died on 1 March 1938 in Gardone Riviera. He was a leading figure in Italian literature during the fin de siècle and is associated with the decadent and Symbolist movements. His literary career spanned poetry, drama, and prose, and he became known for ornate, sensory language and classical allusions. His early novel Il Piacere (The Pleasure) (1889) and his later verse collections, culminating in the Laudi del cielo, del mare, della terra e degli dei, established him as a celebrity writer in Italy and abroad. He also wrote political essays and cultivated a public persona as a cultured nationalist.

After World War I, D'Annunzio played a direct role in Italian politics by seizing control of the city of Fiume (Rijeka) in 1919 with a legion of volunteers, declaring the Italian Regency of Carnaro. The occupation lasted about a year and ended when Italian authorities forced withdrawal; the Charter of Carnaro, a framework he drafted, combined nationalist, corporatist, and anti-liberal elements. The Fiume episode helped popularize some ideas later associated with Italian Fascism and elevated D'Annunzio as a symbol of political extremism and charisma for some Italian nationalists.

Later in life he built the Vittoriale degli Italiani, a hilltop estate in Gardone Riviera that is now a museum and memorial. He remained a major cultural figure in Italy until his death in 1938; his work continued to influence Italian literature, theater, and nationalist discourse, even as critics debated his political legacy.