(Serravezza, Lucca, 1881 – Forte dei Marmi, 1958), poet and prose writer, spent part of his youth in Alexandria, Egypt, where he met Ungaretti, who had his first book of short stories, “Fole,” published in 1910. Upon returning to Italy, he became involved in the theater, with intense activity as an organizer and impresario, reactivating the tradition of the Tuscan “maggi.” His most mature works are those of the autobiographical tetralogy: “Moscardino” (1922), “Il volto santo” (1924), “Il servitore del diavolo” (1931), “Magoometto” (1942), in which he recalls a long period of his existence in a lyrical-evocative register. He returned to more traditional narrative forms with “La padriccia” (1931), “Il foreigner” (1937) and “La maremmana” (1938, Viareggio prize) while his last novels, “Solaio” (1941), “Malaria di guerra” (1947), “Zitina” (1949), “Vita in Egitto” (1949) and “Peccati in piazza” (1956), drew on an elegiac realism linked to autobiographical material.
The Enrico Pea Fund is made up of the following sections: Correspondence, which collects letters addressed to Pea from numerous senders including Baldini, Banti, Bargellini, Bellonci, Bonsanti, Betocchi, Cardarelli, Caretti, Cecchi, Cicognani, Contini, De Robertis, Falqui, Gadda, Maccari, Malaparte, Manzini, Montale, Ojetti, Papini, Pavolini, Pound, Quasimodo, Rèpaci, Svevo, Ungaretti, Viani, Vittorini; drafts from Pea to various recipients, some already listed as senders (Baldini, Banti, Bargellini, Bellonci, De Robertis, Falqui, Montale, Pavolini) and letters from various senders to various recipients; Manuscripts, which collects preparatory material relating to novels and poems, notes on the theatre, typographical drafts and some poems by various authors sent to Pea in his capacity as judge of the 1957 Lerici prize; Press Review, a collection of articles mostly related to the organizational and entrepreneurial activities related to the theatre; Journals, with the masthead “La Rocca” (1958); Various, collection of administrative and accounting material (contracts, bank documents, receipts), posters, invitations, advertising sheets and some photocopied songs by Icilio Sadun with lyrics by Pea.
