Fonds 69 - Mario Pratesi fonds

Mario Pratesi was an Italian teacher and respected author. He was born in Santa Fiora on Mont’Amiata near Grosseto, Italy, in 1842. Following the death of his mother when he was four years old, he continued to suffer from intense depression, eventually being hospitalized. After being released from the sanatorium he moved to Florence, with the ambition of becoming a writer. Financial necessity compelled him to earn his living as a teacher, however he wrote extensively in his free time, producing newspaper articles, book reviews, memorials, short stories, novellas, travel accounts, and novels, including Memorie del mio amico Tristano (1872), L’eredita (1889), Il Mondo di Dolcetta (1896, 1916), Le Perfidie del caso (1898) and Il Peccato del dottore. Pratesi retired from teaching in 1906, devoting his time to writing despite the hardships of terminal illness and poverty. Pratesi died in 1921.