Biography

Giorgio Bassani was born on March 4, 1916 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and actor, known for The Stranger's Hand (1954), Don Juan's Night of Love (1952) and Woman of Rome (1954). He was married to Valeria Sinigallia. He died on April 13, 2000 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Vice president of Italy`s public television network RAI and president of "Nostra Italia" (1957).

The city of Ferrara with its Christian-Jewish life became the main subject of his novels like "Gli occhiali d'oro" (1958) and "Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini" (1962). The motion pictures The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987) and the Academy Award winning The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) were based on them.

He studied at the University of Bologna and graduated in 1939. One year later, he anonymously published (due to Mussolini's racial policy) his first book "Una città di pianura".

Friend of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

At the outbreak of World War II, he worked as a schoolteacher in the Jewish School of Ferrara.