Umberto Zanoti Bianco (1889-1963)

Umberto Zanotti Bianco (1889-1963) - At a distance of forty years from his death, the profile of Umberto Zanotti Bianco still stands out as that of one of the rarest and most extraordinary personalities Italy produced in the 20th century, the result of variegated qualities which, with his thoroughly concrete sensibility, he successfully combined for his own purposes. The interventionist position he took as a young man reflected his Mazzinian dedication to the cause of oppressed peoples, just as his interest in the nationalities smothered under the Austro-Hungarian Empire had absolutely fundamental points in common with his concern for Italy’s South, the Mezzogiorno, while the latter in turn was connected with a by no means amateur interest in archaeological research. As all his actions demonstrate, for Zanotti the Mezzogiorno meant a series of problems to be addressed in concrete terms-poverty, disease, the lack of schooling and the need to open schools to cure the plague of illiteracy. Informed by his profound commitment to the interests of the Mezzogiorno, Zanotti’s works reflect the man who never asked what way the world was going, because he always asked in all conscience where he should be going himself.

Gennaro Sasso, Umberto Zanoti Bianco (1889-1963) in "QA Rivista dell’Associazione Rossi-Doria" 2/2004, pp , DOI: