A staunch democrat with strong anti-Fascist views, Alvaro's politics made him the target of surveillance of Mussolini's Fascist regime.

L'uomo è forte (1938; Man Is Strong), written after a trip to the Soviet Union, is a defence of the individual against the oppression of totalitarianism.

His subsequent works, L'amata alla finestra, Gente in Aspromonte, La signora dell'isola, and Vent'anni established him as an important writer.

A jury that included the noted Italian novelist Luigi Pirandello awarded him a prize of 50,000 lire given by the newspaper La Stampa in 1931 for Gente in Aspromonte.

His later work portrayed the contrasts between a yearning for the simple, pastoral way of life, and the aspiration to achieve material success that attracts people to the city.

He was one of the first authors to mention the 'Ndrangheta – the mafia-style criminal association in his native Calabria – in several short stories and in an article published in the Corriere della Sera in 1955.