Enzo Bettiza

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Enzo Bettiza (1927, Split, Yugoslavia) is a Dalmatian-born Italian novelist, journalist and politician.

[edit] Biography

Bettiza was born in Dalmatia, in a rich family of the Italian minority. His mother stemmed from a Montenegrin family of the Croatian isle of Brač. His family owned the most important enterprise in Dalmatia, the Gilardi e Bettiza cement factory, in the town of Split. In 1941 Axis Powers invaded Yugoslavia and in 1944 the city was again joined to Yugoslavia. Italian families were expelled, and their assets were taken by Yugoslavs. Bettiza moved to Gorizia after the end of World War II and the re-annexation of his native land to Yugoslavia, at the age of 18. Later he moved to Trieste, and then to Milan: here he always declared to be living as "an exiled".

Bettiza has been director of several Italian newspaper and author of numerous books. as a journalist he devoted his attention Eastern countries and nationalities, and Yugoslavian area in particular. In 1948 he entered the Italian Communist Party: his political position, however, was usually different from the official one of the party.

In the period 1957-1965 he was foreign corresponder for the newspaper La Stampa, first from Vienna and then from Moscow. Later he moved to Il Corriere della Sera, for which he worked for ten years.

In 1974, together with Indro Montanelli, founded the Milanese newspaper Il Giornale, for which he was co-director until 1983.

Starting from 1976, he was member of the Italian Senate and the European Parliament. He now lives in Rome with his family and has been married a few times. His current wife, Laura Laurenzi, is a renowned Italian writer.

Bettiza's major novel, I fantasmi di Mosca (Phantoms of Moscow) is credited as the most extended novel written in italian language.