Augusto Novelli

[1] Fascinated by the creative world of the Italian theatre from an early age, Novelli managed to complete the farce Una sfida ai bagni (A Challenge to the Baths) as a teenager and wrote early plays such as La capanna del veterano (The Veteran's Cabin) and La Società dei senza testa (Society of the Headless) in the 1880s.

[6] Novelli's Il morticino (The Dead Child), a play written during his prison term, premiered in 1893 while the dramatist was still carrying on his work from behind bars.

"[8] The play regarded as Novelli's most notable theatrical work, L'acqua cheta (Still Water), first opened at Florence's Teatro Alfieri on 28 January 1908.

Aside from his two decades with Il vero Monello, Novelli's contributions to periodicals included material for Firenze a zig-zag in 1912 and La Kultureide in 1916.

He spent his final years in seclusion from public life in the Tuscan community about 20 km west of Florence where a commemorative bust, installed in the municipal chamber, now honours him.