Antonio Pennacchi

Antonio Pennacchi (26 January 1950 – 3 August 2021) was an Italian writer, winner of the Strega Prize in 2010 for his novel, Canale Mussolini.

He devoted himself to politics from an early age, but, unlike his brothers, who all adhere to left-wing organizations, he enrolled in the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist nationalist and national-conservative party.

However, while increasing his political culture, he rejected the neo-fascist ideology, came into conflict with the party leaders and was expelled.

After a long reflection, he approached Marxism and converted to Communism, joining the Italian (Marxist–Leninist) Communist Party and participating in the Protests of 1968.

[1] In the meantime, he began working as a worker at the Alcatel Cavi in Latina (at the time called "Fulgorcavi"), where he remained for over thirty years.

He then wrote A red cloud in 1998, a story inspired by the murder of a young couple in Cori, which took place the year before and had great prominence in the national news.

In 2008 the essay Fascio e martello was released, in which he described the founding cities of fascism throughout Italy and wrote the subject of the short film Occhi verdi for director Clemente Pernarella.