Arturo Colautti

Following the publication of an anti-Austrian article on his newspaper, in September 1880, Colautti was attacked by a group of soldiers that rendered him impaired for a few months.

Shortly after, also because of the threat of lawsuit for crimes against the stringent Austrian press laws and in support of Italian irredentism, Colautti chose the path of exile and took refuge in the Kingdom of Italy.

In the many years spent in Naples, he wrote hundreds of articles, but also poems, novels and plays, gaining an excellent literary reputation.

Some of his operatic librettos were set to music (Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilea, Fedora by Umberto Giordano and Doña Flor by Niccolò van Westerhout).

For the duration of the exile, Colautti maintained close contacts with the Dalmatian irredentists and actively participated nationally in various events and conferences.