Franco Cuomo

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Franco Cuomo (April 22, 1938 – July 23, 2007) was an Italian journalist and writer from Naples who lived in Rome. He is best known for historical novels set in the Middle Ages and was twice shortlisted for Italy’s Strega Prize: in 1990 for Gunther d'Amalfi, cavaliere templare and in 1997 for Il Codice Macbeth. His book Gunther d'Amalfi helped start a trend of neo-historical novels in Italy, with secrets and symbols connected to the Templars and other medieval orders.

He studied law and then worked in journalism and theater before turning to fiction and historical studies. His novels include I sotterranei del cielo, Il tatuaggio, Anime perdute, Notturno veneziano con messa nera e fantasmi d'amore. His nonfiction includes I dieci, about the Italian scientists who signed the 1938 racial manifesto.

In fiction he wrote I semidei (a spy story inspired by Tangentopoli), Il signore degli specchi (about Nostradamus) and Scroll (on whether Shakespeare was English). He published a five-volume series on the origins of Europe, Il romanzo di Carlo Magno, and a biography Santa Rita degli impossibili about Rita da Cascia. His nonfiction topics included L'ozio (idleness), Elogio del libertino (seduction), Chi ha guardato negli occhi la bellezza (Oscar Wilde’s Victorian decadence), Beatrice Cenci, Le grandi profezie (prophecies) and Gli ordini cavallereschi nel mito e nella storia (knighthood).

Cuomo wrote many plays staged in Italy and abroad by directors such as Carmelo Bene and Maurizio Scaparro. His plays include Faust o Margherita, Romeo e Giulietta, Compagno Gramsci, Il caso Matteotti, Caterina delle misericordie (Premio Riccione), Nerone (Premio Idi), Giovanna d'Arco e Gilles de Rais (Premio Vallecorsi), Addio amore (Beatrice Cenci) (Premio Fondi), Una notte di Casanova (Premio Flaiano) and Gladiator. He won several awards, including the Fregene Prize for journalism (1984) and the Premio per la Cultura della Presidenza del Consiglio (1989), Ravello (1990), Vanvitelli (1995) and Blow In (1997).

Cuomo translated classics for the stage, such as Utopia by Thomas More, and wrote for radio and television with RAI. He held editorial roles in newspapers and magazines and appeared often on TV programs. His last essay, published in 2005, explored the Italian scientists who signed the 1938 race manifesto.