Giampaolo Pansa

Giampaolo Pansa (1 October 1935 – 12 January 2020) was an Italian journalist-commentator and novelist, especially during his late years, a prolific author of books and essays. Most of his writings was rooted in recent or contemporary history, notably with regard to the antifascist resistance of the Mussolini years. Giampaolo Pansa was born and raised in Casale Monferrato, an industrial town by the Po river and located in the Province of Alessandria. His father Ernesto, the fifth of six children, grew up in poverty. Since Ernesto Pansa was the last child to leave home and marry, his widowed mother moved to his home. The young Giampaolo developed a close relationship with his grandmother, born Caterina Zaffiro in 1869 in the little village of Caresana, which is located north of the Po river. The Pansas were casual farm workers, but one generation earlier, they all transferred to industrial work. As Giampaolo grew up there were three obvious career options on the horizon. Work in the local Marl quarries was the least appealing. Another possibility would have been a job at one of the many cement factories in the town. The third, and as it seemed at the time "cleanest", option would have involved following his father's example and working at the Eternit asbestos plant. He attended school locally at the "Istituto Balbo" (secondary school), where he received a "classical education", opening the way for university admission and a chance to move away. Graduating from school with top marks, complemented by a "cum laude" commendation for his school final exams, Pansa enrolled at the University of Turin, where he studied for a degree in political sciences. One of his teachers at the university was Alessandro Galante Garrone: it was Garrone who encouraged him to study the history of the Second World War and of the Italian Resistance. He completed his university studies on 16 July 1959 with a degree in Political Sciences, received in return for a dissertation on "The Resistance in the Province of Alessandria (1943–1945)".