Dario Bellezza

Dario Bellezza was born on September 5, 1944, in Rome. He was Italy’s first openly gay, major prize-winning poet, novelist, and playwright. His work was influenced by Arthur Rimbaud, the Beat generation, and the growing European rights movements. 

Bellezza first came to prominence in the 1960s as a contributor to Nuovi argomenti, a literary magazine in which he wrote about his homosexual exploits. Over the course of a twenty-five-year career, he published more than twenty books, including eight full-length poetry collections, eight novels, two plays, and translations from the French. In addition to writing poetry and fiction, he authored Morte di Pasolini [The Death of Pasolini](Mondadori, 1981), a book about the writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, who was killed in 1975. 

Bellezza is the recipient of the Viareggio Prize, Italy’s most prestigious poetry award, and the Montale Prize for lifetime poetic achievement. He died from complications related to AIDS on March 31, 1995.