Raffaele Viviani

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Raffaele Viviani (1888-1950). Italian author, playwright, actor and musician, born in Castellammare, near Naples. Viviani belongs to the turn-of-the-century school of realism in Italian literature, and his works have to do with seamier elements of the lives of the poor in Naples of that period, things such as petty crime and prostitution. Critics have termed Viviani "an autodidact realist," meaning that he acquired his skills through personal experience and not academic education.

Viviani appeared at the age of 4 on the stage and by 20 had acquired a solid reputation as an actor and playwright thoughout Italy. He also played in Budapest, Paris, Tripoli, and throughout South America. His plays are in the "anti-Pirandello" style; that is, they are less concerned with the pyschology of people than with the lives they lead. Vivian's best known-work is L'ultimo scugnizzo (The Last scugnizzo) (1931), scugnizzo being the underclass Neapolitan street kid. Viviani composed songs and incidental music for many of his earlier works. One such well-known melodrama is via Toldeo di notte, (Via Toledo by Night) a work from 1918 in which Viviani even employs American cake-walk and ragtime rhythms to tell the story of the "street people" of via Toledo, the most famous street in Naples.