Considered among the most well-known and read Italian intellectuals in Europe and in the world, his most famous novel, Fontamara, became emblematic for its denunciation of the condition of poverty, injustice, and social oppression of the lower classes, has been translated into numerous languages.

For many years an anti-fascist exile abroad, Silone participated actively and in various phases of Italian politics, animating the cultural life of the country in the post-war period.

[1] His father, Paolo Tranquilli, died in 1911, and he lost many of his family members, including his mother, Marianna Delli Quadri, in the 1915 Avezzano earthquake.

[3] Silone was a founding member of the breakaway Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista d'Italia, PCd'I) in 1921 and became one of its covert leaders during the Italian fascist regime.

[6] In December 1949, the UdS was dissolved, and its members (including Silone) joined the Unitary Socialist Party (Partito Socialista Unitario, PSU).

[8] Following his contribution to the anti-communist anthology The God That Failed (1949), Silone joined the Congress for Cultural Freedom and edited Tempo Presente together with Nicola Chiaromonte.

[11] In 1967, with the discovery that the journal received secret funds from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Silone resigned and devoted all his energies to writing novels and autobiographical essays.

Less known is the political thinker Silone, whose contribution, perhaps underestimated by official historiography, brings us into contact with an intellectual who is in some ways original, capable of combining political commitment and critical ability; faith towards humanity and scepticism towards institutions and ideologies; trust in social justice and openness to forms of social coexistence inspired by liberal-federalist models.

[15] In the 1990s, Italian historians Dario Biocca and Mauro Canali found documents that implied that Silone had acted as an informant for the Fascist police from 1919 until 1930.

[21] Conversely, in the words of Antonio Fadda in 2015, "I don't think there is much uncertainty anymore about the relationships that Secondino Tranquilli (better known as Ignazio Silone) had with the Italian state police in the early years of the fascist regime.

It served to obtain better conditions for his brother Romolo, a member of the party, accused of complicity in a bloody attack in Milan, arrested, and treated harshly during police interrogations.

Silone was a complicated man, troubled by doubts, examinations of conscience, introspective analyses, feelings of guilt: qualities and virtues that would have made him a great writer, rather than a political leader.