(Naples, 1884 – Livorno, 1977), a multifaceted, self-taught artist, soon acquired a sure mastery in drawing and composing words and music for Neapolitan songs. In 1906 he published the booklet “Piedigrotta Cangiullo” (Naples, Tipolitografia Elia) and collected in a notebook a series of poems in the vernacular entitled “Verde nuovo” (the document is preserved in the Foundation Archives). In 1910 he read a Futurist manifesto for the first time and was thunderstruck. Officially joining the movement two years later, he collaborated on Futurist magazines and in 1916 published “Piedigrotta. Words in Freedom.” He took part in the season of synthetic theater and between 1921 and 1923 made the most significant contribution to Futurism with the theorization, organization and management of the “Theater of Surprise,” conceived together with Marinetti in Naples. The failure of the enterprise, destined to totally refound the paradigms of traditional theater, determines the break with the movement. In 1924 Cangiullo exited Futurism. In 1930 he published “Le serate futuriste,” which was followed by many other narrative and poetic works that testify to the beginning of the memoir season.
The Francesco Cangiullo Fund is divided into the following sections: Correspondence, which collects letters addressed to Cangiullo from various senders, including Balla, Govoni, Marinetti, Papini, Soffici, Vallecchi, the Marinetti-Cangiullo correspondence, partially in photostatic copy, and a small nucleus of letters from Cangiullo to various recipients including Palazzeschi; Manuscripts, which collects literary texts, film subjects, the “New Green” notebook of poetic rehearsals, some sheet music and numerous loose pages of various genres (recollections, short stories, essays, articles); Photo library, which preserves 44 photographs, mostly portraits of Cangiullo as a young man and as an adult; Press Review, a collection of articles by Cangiullo from 1916 to the early 1960s, and a series of articles on Cangiullo from different years (1950s to 1970s); Periodicals, including the single issue of “Italian Futurist Art 1909-1929,” edited by Pippo Rizzo; Miscellaneous, where press drafts, notes, brochures, invitations, book commission coupons, catalogs of Cangiullo’s exhibitions and publications dedicated to him are collected; Library with Cangiullo’s works “Serate futuriste,” “Piedigrotta” and “Poesia pentagrammata” and several volumes with dedications by Soffici, Marinetti and Palazzeschi.
