A Biographical Study of Gaetano Pilati (1881-1925)

盖亚诺·皮拉蒂出生于博洛尼亚市附近，出身农民，是当地社区杰出的年轻成员，用方言写诗。1906年，他移居到佛罗伦萨，在那里他成为了一名成功的建筑业企业家，一名发明家（他的第一个项目是在建造市政房屋时使用钢筋混凝土），也是当地社会主义协会的领导人。他自愿参加了第一次世界大战，期间他受伤并失去了一只前臂。在医院接受治疗后，他设计了许多假肢，这些假肢经过了成功的测试，并被意大利军队正式采用。战争结束后，他回到佛罗伦萨，在1919年的大选中成为国会议员。1925年10月，他在法西斯小队组织的最后一次反社会主义大屠杀中被杀害。一场模拟审判最终没有对肇事者提出指控，这家人被迫移民到阿根廷。正如对他一生的总结所表明的那样，盖塔诺·皮拉蒂值得深入研究，原因有很多。首先是传记，但同样重要的是与皮拉蒂所处的社会背景有关的文化和政治问题。到目前为止，尽管在一些公共档案馆中有大量的档案材料，但对这个问题的研究很少。1978年，在社会党佛罗伦萨分会的支持下，出版了一本纪念专著。然而，尽管它的内容丰富，它的圣徒化的倾向严重破坏了这本书作为一个历史研究的整体价值。在我去佛罗伦萨和罗马做研究期间，我熟悉了许多机构提供的档案材料。佛罗伦萨的图拉蒂基金会保存着皮拉蒂的大部分私人文件和与谋杀案审判程序有关的大量文献。在罗马，我还在罗马国家档案馆的法西斯部长档案中找到了一些与这个主题相关的文件。为了重建皮拉蒂早年在博洛尼亚的生活，特别是在20世纪初意大利农民文化的背景下研究他的诗歌，我还计划参观该市的国家档案馆和葛兰西研究所在当地的分支机构。如果再给我一个研究假，我就能在2008年夏天之前完成这本传记。在过去的几年里，我一直与一家意大利出版商合作——佛罗伦萨的凯撒蒂——表示有兴趣出版我的书的意大利语版。我还与另一家与我有定期联系的出版社——牛津的勒令达（Legenda）——的负责人讨论了可能的英文译本。

Born near the city of Bologna and of peasant origin, Gateano Pilati was a prominent young member of the local community and wrote poetry in dialect. In 1906 he migrated to Florence, where he became a successful entrepeneur in the building industry, an inventor (his are the first projects for the use of reinforced concrete in the construction of council houses), and a leader of the local socialist association. He volunteered in the First World War, during which he was wounded and lost a forearm. Once in care in hospital, he designed a number of prosthetic limbs which were successfully tested and officially adopted by the Italian army. After the war, he returned to Florence where he became a Member of Parliament at the 1919 general elections. He was killed during one of the last anti-socialist pogroms organized by the Fascist squads in October 1925. A mock-trial ended with no charges against the perpetrators and the family was forced to migrate to Argentina.As this summary of his life suggests, Gaetano Pilati deserves an in-depth study for a number of reasons. First of all, biographical, but of equal importance are the cultural and political issues relating to the social context in which Pilati operated. So far very little research has been done on the subject despite the fact that a substantial amount of archival material is available in a number of public archives. A commemorative monograph was published in 1978 under the aegis of Florence's branch of the Socialist Party. However, despite its informative content, its hagiographic slant heavily undermines the overall value of the book as a piece of historical research.During my research trips to Florence and Rome, I familiarized myself with the archival material available in a number of institutions. The Fondazione Turati in Florence holds most of Pilati's private papers and copious literature relating to the proceedings of the murder trial. In Rome I have also found a number of files relevant to the subject at the Fascist ministerial archives held at the National Archives in Rome. In order to reconstruct the early years of Pilati's life in Bologna, and particularly to study his poetry within the context of peasant culture in early 20th century Italy, I have also planned to visit the city's State Archives and the local branch of the Istituto Gramsci.The awarding of an additional Research Leave would allow me to complete the biography by the summer of 2008. An Italian publisher with which I have been collaborating in the past few years - Cesati of Florence - has expressed interest in publishing an Italian edition of my book. I have also discussed a possible English translation with the director of another publishing house with which I am in regular contact, Legenda, of Oxford.