# Vamba > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vamba > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Vamba.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamba > Source revision: 1304649725 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Italian journalist and writer (1858–1920)}} {{Infobox person | name = Vamba | image = Vamba1.jpg | birth_name = Luigi Bertelli | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1860|03|19}} | birth_place = [Florence](/source/Florence), Italy | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1920|11|27|1858|03|19}} | death_place = Florence, Italy | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|Journalist}} | signature = Vamba firma.svg | known_for = {{hlist|''[Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca](/source/Il_Giornalino_di_Gian_Burrasca)''|''[Il giornalino della Domenica](/source/Il_giornalino_della_Domenica)''}} | resting_place = [Cimitero delle Porte Sante](/source/Cimitero_delle_Porte_Sante) }} '''Luigi Bertelli''' (19 March 1860 - 27 November 1920), best known as '''Vamba''', was an Italian writer, illustrator and journalist. == Biography == Born in [Florence](/source/Florence), having completed his studies Bertelli became a railway employer, working first in [Rimini](/source/Rimini) and later in [Foggia](/source/Foggia).{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} He later started collaborating with the Roman newspaper ''Capitan Fracassa'' and in 1884 he was officially employed as a journalist and caricaturist.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} He soon adopted the pseudonym "Vamba", named after the clown of [Walter Scott](/source/Walter_Scott)'s ''[Ivanhoe](/source/Ivanhoe)''.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} After collaborating with several newspapers, in 1890 he founded and directed ''L'O di Giotto'', a newspaper close to the radical political positions of [Felice Cavallotti](/source/Felice_Cavallotti), and in 1901 he co-founded the regional newspaper ''Il Bruscolo''.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} In 1893 Vamba was commissioned by a publisher to write a book for children. The result was a lasting favorite, ''Ciondolino'' (Shirt-Tail, 1896), illustrated by [Carlo Chiostri](/source/Carlo_Chiostri), which is about a boy transformed into an [ant](/source/ant); reminiscent of [Fabre](/source/Jean-Henri_Fabre) and [Maeterlinck](/source/Maurice_Maeterlinck), scientific detail is provided without didacticism, and ant life is critically compared with human life. Vamba's most famous book remains ''[Il Giornalino di Gian Burrasca](/source/Il_Giornalino_di_Gian_Burrasca)'' (The Diary of Gian Burrasca, 1912 ), the pedagogical and humorous story of a lively 9 year old.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} Like ''[Pinocchio](/source/Pinocchio)'', it broke with the tradition of model characters offered for children's edification, but the outrageously naughty protagonist's adventures and the various registers of comic language ultimately serve to satirize adults. Vamba's most notable achievement was the founding and editing, in Florence, of one of Italy's most distinguished children's newspapers, ''[Il giornalino della Domenica](/source/Il_giornalino_della_Domenica)'' (The Children's Sunday Paper, 1906–1927), which similarly avoided pedagogy; it holds a unique place in the history of Italian children's literature.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} From the outset, Vamba intended it to be of the highest quality and recruited many of the finest writers and illustrators of the time. Notable contributors included the great poet [Pascoli](/source/Giovanni_Pascoli), the novelists [Luigi Capuana](/source/Luigi_Capuana), [Matilde Serao](/source/Matilde_Serao), and [Grazia Deledda](/source/Grazia_Deledda), the short story writer [Renato Fucini](/source/Renato_Fucini), and, among leading specialists for children, [Salgari](/source/Emilio_Salgari), [De Amicis](/source/Edmondo_De_Amicis), [Ida Baccini](/source/Ida_Baccini), Padre [Ermenegildo Pistelli](/source/Ermenegildo_Pistelli), and Giuseppe Fanciulli, some of whom made their name through a regular column in the paper. In the summer of 1920 he fell ill, dying on 27 November 1920.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} A funerary monument made by the sculptor [Libero Andreotti](/source/Libero_Andreotti) was inaugurated in Florence on 14 January 1923.{{sfn|Barsali|1967}} Vamba was inspired by the patriotic ideals of the [Risorgimento](/source/Unification_of_Italy) and cultivated—partly through a ''Giornalino'' club—a sense of community and friendship among young readers throughout Italy. == References == {{Reflist}} == Bibliography == * {{DBI|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/luigi-bertelli_(Dizionario-Biografico)|title=BERTELLI, Luigi|first=Mario|last=Barsali|volume=9 |year=1967}} * {{cite book |last = Nissim Rossi |first = Lea |date = 1954 |title = Vamba: Luigi Bertelli |location = Florence |publisher = Le Monnier }} * {{cite book |last = Michieli |first = Armando |date = 1965 |title = Vamba |location = Brescia |publisher = La Scuola }} * {{cite book |last = Nissim Rossi |first = Lea |date = 1967 |title = Luigi Bertelli (Vamba) |location = Milan |publisher = Mondadori Education |isbn = 8800863507 }} * {{cite book |editor-last1 = Ascenzi |editor-first1 = Anna |editor-last2 = Di Felice |editor-first2 = Maila |editor-last3 = Raffaele |editor-first3 = Lea |date = 2008 |title = Santa giovinezza!: lettere di Luigi Bertelli e dei suoi corrispondenti, 1883-1920 |location = Macerata |publisher = Alfabetica Edizioni |isbn = 8890250933 }} * {{cite book |last = Anau |first = Roberta |date = 1967 |title = Gian Burrasca. Ragazzi di marzapane e cervello di crema. La cucina di Vamba |location = Turin |publisher = Il leone verde edizioni |isbn = 8865800046 }} == External links == {{Commons}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last = Pizzi |first = Katia |date = 2002 |title = Vamba |url = https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198183327.001.0001/acref-9780198183327-e-3286 |encyclopedia = The Oxford Companion to Italian Literature |location = Oxford |publisher = Oxford University Press |access-date = 5 June 2025 }} * {{cite encyclopedia |last = Lucas |first = A. |date = 2006 |title = Vamba |url = https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195146561.001.0001/acref-9780195146561-e-3296 |encyclopedia = The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature |location = Oxford |publisher = Oxford University Press |access-date = 5 June 2025 }} {{Authority control}} Category:1858 births Category:Writers from Florence Category:1920 deaths Category:Journalists from Florence Category:Italian male journalists Category:19th-century Italian novelists Category:20th-century Italian novelists Category:Italian male novelists Category:Italian caricaturists Category:Italian children's book illustrators Category:Italian children's writers Category:19th-century Italian male writers Category:20th-century Italian male writers Category:Italian magazine founders --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Vamba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamba) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamba?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.