Rocco Scotellaro

Rocco Scotellaro

Rocco Scotellaro (born April 19, 1923 in Tricarico , † December 15, 1953 in Portici ) was an Italian writer , poet and politician .

Life

Rocco Scotellaro came from a humble family; his father Vincenzo was a shoemaker and his mother Francesca Armento a tailor. At the age of 12 he moved with his family to Sicignano degli Alburni to continue his school career at the boarding school there. From 1942 he studied at the Faculty of Law in Rome without being able to graduate. After the death of his father, he returned to his place of birth that same year.

Knowing the dramatic conditions of the southern Italian farmers, Scotellaro began his trade union work, which in December 1943 resulted in membership of the Italian Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Italiano, PSI) and the establishment of the local branch of the party. In 1946, at the age of 23, he was elected mayor of Tricarico and had first contacts with Manlio Rossi Doria and Carlo Levi , who were to become his mentors.

In 1950, Rocco is charged with extortion, fraud and involvement in a criminal organization by his political opponents. He spends 45 days in Matera prison until the political conspiracy is resolved and he can be acquitted of all charges. Due to this traumatic experience and the electoral defeat at the provincial level, he turned his back on politics and devoted himself to his literary work.

In the same year he took a position at the Agricultural Observatory in Portici . Here, among other things, he deals with the regional development of Basilicata and various sociological studies. At the suggestion of the publisher Vito Laterza, Rocco begins an extensive study of the culture of the farmers in southern Italy. Because of Scotellaro's unexpected death from heart failure on December 15, 1953, this study remained unfinished, as was his autobiographical novel L'uva puttanella .

Scotellaro's birthplace

Political career

Due to his childhood in rural Basilicata , he developed an understanding of the inhumane situation in which the farmers found themselves in southern Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. In the post-war period, Rocco Scotellaro saw the Italian Socialist Party as the ideal instrument to improve the economic and social situation of the farmers. In his political career he dealt almost exclusively with the major problems of agriculture at that time: food shortages, inadequate sanitary facilities, a ruthless and uncompromising market for illegal workers, and extreme and constant poverty.

After the Italian campaign in September 1943, the south of Italy was able to advance the democratization process early on during the Second World War . Even in the post-war period, Scotellaro is part of this movement, he tries to involve the local population more in the decision-making process and is one of the biggest supporters of agricultural reforms in southern Italy.

His political naivety and inexperience came to light in 1950 when a political intrigue attempted to depose him as mayor of Tricarico. This incident caused him to resign from his political offices without losing popular support for his further projects.

Works (selection)

• Contadini del Sud (farmers of the south). 1954
• L'uva puttanella (The Puttanella Grape). 1956
• An hour before the day. Darmstadt, 1967
• Margherite e rosolacci . Milan 1978

literature

• Johannes Hösle: The Italian literature of the present: from Cesare Pavese to Dario Fo. CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 978-3-406-42085-6 , pp. 32-33.