Biography of Gianni Brera

The goddess Rizacarlos

September 8, 1919
December 19, 1992
Born John Louis the 8 September 1919 in San Zenone Po, near Pavia, by Carlo and from Marietta Ghisoni, Gianni Brera was arguably the greatest sportswriter that Italy has had. Left home at fourteen to moving to Milan at the sister Alice (teacher by profession), and enroll at the high school, he played football in Milan's youth teams, under coach China Bonazzoni, and was a promising: flags.
But the passion for football made him neglect his studies, so her father and sister the imposed to stop playing and moved to Pavia, where he finished high school and enrolled at the University. In 1940 the 20-year-old Gianni Brera attends so political science at Pavia, doing various jobs in order to pay for studies (the original family was very poor). Don't have time to graduate from that World War II breaks out.
Forced to leave soldier, becomes first officer and then a paratrooper, writing in this guise some memorable articles for various newspapers. In this way has the opportunity to grow professionally. Noted in the environments of journalism his cleverness, it calls for some contributions to "the people of Italy" and il Resto del Carlino, tested definitely important though controlled by the fascist regime. And we must not forget that, it was also a fervent anti-fascist. His uneasiness within the newsrooms, therefore, is strong and clear.
And it becomes even more so when, between 1942 and 1943 the military operations undertaken by the regime start to go quite badly. In those two years in his life take place several things: die her mother and father, he graduated (with a thesis on Thomas more), and later marries. In addition, he left for the capital to take on the role of editor-in-Chief of "Folgore", the official magazine of the paratroopers. In Rome, according to the words he will use at the end of the war in a memoir, "the real Communist in bluff. The theoretical, the poor guy who wasn't in touch with anybody. " Meanwhile, in Italy the regime opponents are organizing themselves getting better making a list more and more nourished of proselytes. Some exponent of the resistance contact even after many hesitations, Brera decides to cooperate. In Milan participates with his brother Franco the shooting of Central station, one of the first acts of resistance against the Germans. Together they capture a soldier of the Wehrmacht, and deliver other extemporaneous rebels, who take the soldier to punch and kick. But, says, "I didn't kill him". Following several months of hiding. Brera, in Milan at the mother-in-law, Valbrona from sister-in-law. Occasionally goes to Pavia, find the friend Zack, the only contact she has with the flaky clandestine organizations. At full strength, though, will participate actively in the partisan struggle in Val d'Ossola. On 2 July ' 45, at the end of the war, resuming as a journalist for the "Gazzetta dello Sport", after the Suppression of the paper by the fascist regime, which occurred two years earlier. Within a few days began to organize the tour of Italy cycling race, which would have started in May. Must have been the Round of rebirth, the return of the country to life after the tragic war events. Director of the newspaper was Bruno Roghi, from the prose of D'Annunzio.
Among journalists David Falana, Louis Gianoli, Mario Ditches and Gianni Brera, who was appointed head of the athletics. Take care of the sport led him to study in depth the neuro-muscular and psychological mechanisms of the human body. The skills so acquired, combined with an imaginative and brilliant language, would help to develop his remarkable ability to tell the sporting gesture with passion and transportation. In 1949 he wrote the essay "Athletics, physical science and poetry of pride". In the same year, after having been a correspondent in Paris and sent to the journal at the London Olympics of ' 48, he was appointed, only thirty years, Codirector of the newspaper along with Joseph Ambrosini. In this role assisted at the Olympics in Helsinki in ' 52, among the finest in the second world war, dominated in football from Hungary of Puskas and athletically from Czech Zatopek who won a memorable race in the 5,000 meters, setting a world record. Although he had inherited from his father the Socialist ideas, Gianni Brera praised the firm's Zatopek for reasons all sporting, with a headline on the front page to nine columns. This drew, in the political climate of the time, the hostility of the publishers, the Crespi, annoyed that he had given so much emphasis to the feats of a Communist.
In 1954, after writing an article a little complacent on British Queen Elizabeth II, provoking a controversy, Gianni Brera resigned, with an irrevocable decision, by the journal. A colleague and friend, Angel Rovelli, so the direction breriana the legendary pink newspaper: "it's even said that direct in the sense that I would call technical or structural, wasn't in his ropes. The "old" futuristic models demanded Journal, conversions, renovations. Gianni Brera was journalist-writer, in meaning and the personification of the term, his aspirations did not coincide with a technological future. " Left la Gazzetta dello Sport, Brera made a trip to the United States and on his return he founded a sports weekly, "Sport yellow". Gaetano Baldacci soon called him the "Day", the newspaper just created by Enrico Mattei, to take over sports service. Began an adventure that would change Italian journalism. The "day" he suffered for nonconformity, not only political (the founder Mattei, ENI President, called for an opening to the left and broke the monopoly of Christian democracy and favored State intervention in economy). New were in fact the style and language, closer to talk daily, and the attention paid to get in costume, at the cinema, on television. Great also the space dedicated to the sport. Brera here he developed his style and his language.
While the Italian municipality oscillated between a formal language and dialect exclusion (ten years before Pasolini and don Milani), Gianni Brera used all the resources of the language at the same time, moving away from the production models and more usual, and using more trivially an extraordinary inventiveness, invented from nothing myriads of neologisms. Such was his imaginative prose that has remained famous declaration by Umberto Eco, which he called Brera as a "Gadda explained to the people." For "the day" Brera followed the major cycling races, the Tour de France and the tour of Italy, before dedicating himself completely to football, continuing however to love deeply cycling, on which he wrote, among other things, "bicycle" and "Coppi e il diavolo," stunning biography of "Campionissimo" Fausto Coppi, of which he was close friend. In 1976 Gianni Brera he returned as a columnist at "Gazzetta dello Sport". Meanwhile, continued to treat the "Guerin Sportivo" "Arcimatto" (whose title seems to have been inspired by the "praise of folly" by Erasmus of Rotterdam), never stopped and held until the end.
Here Brera wrote not only of sports, but also on issues of history, literature, art, hunting and fishing, gastronomy. These articles, as well as to show its culture, are distinguished by the absence of rhetoric and hypocrisy. Some of them are now collected in an anthology. Closed parentheses of columnist to the Gazette, the reporter of San Zenone Little was back to "Day" and was later, in ' 79, the "new" Newspaper, founded by Indro Montanelli after his dumping ground by "Corriere della sera" by Piero Ottone. Montanelli, to increase the circulation of its newspaper, whose sales were languishing, launched the number on Monday, dedicated mainly for sports services entrusted to Gianni Brera. Which also attempted the political adventure and ran in the general elections of ' 79 and 83, in the lists of the Socialist Party, from which he withdrew later, appearing in 87 with the radical party. He was never elected, although in ' 79 came very close. Reportedly, he would like to give a speech at Montecitorio. In 1982 he was called by Eugenio Scalfari to "Republic", which had hired other big names such as Alberto Ronchey and Enzo Biagi. Previously, however, he had also begun a collaborator and then fixed, the tv show "the trial on Monday," conducted by Aldo Biscardi. Who remembers: "on tv we could do.
His coarseness of expression had the video, even if it had some sort of mistrust for the cameras: "I burn easily," was. ". Many were the appearances of Brera, as a host and commentator in sports programs, and even as a conductor on the private tv station Telelombardia. The December 19, 1992, after returning from dinner Thursday ritual, inevitable appointment with a group of his friends, on the road between Codogno and Bristol, the great journalist was killed in an accident. He was 73 years old. Brera remains unforgettable for many things, one of which is his note his theory "biostorica", whereby the sporty characteristics of a people dependent on etnos, economic, cultural, historical background. So the northerners were by definition for feisty and brought to the attack, the Gracile Mediterranean and therefore forced to resort to tactical wit.
Moreover, it is almost impossible to list all the neologisms have entered the common language, which is still in use by editors and sports bar: the ball-gol, midfielder (uncirculated grade name but that nobody had ever thought), slider, the forcing, the rout on goals scored, the free (Yes, the name the role invented him), melina, the Horn, the hallway, the addresses , finishing, the atypical ... The whole "ruled" in his mind from a bizarre Muse mythological "," Rizacarlos, the one who gave him the inspiration to write the articles. Famous names of Italian football appioppò many protagonists of the battle. Rivera was renamed "Abatino" Shore "rolling thunder", "Conileone", "Altafini Boninsegna Ballard," Carpio "Baron," Oriali "Piper" (and when he was playing hurt, "Gazzosino"), "Puliciclone", and so on. Pulici Nowadays his name is kept alive by Internet sites, journalistic and literary awards. In addition, since 2003 the glorious Arena of Milan was renamed as "Gianni Brera Arena".
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.