Franco Villoresi Biography
Writer, anti-fascist, painter. After having attended classical high school and the Faculty of Law in Rome until the fourth year, without obtaining a degree, Villoresi cultivated different interests, initially literary ones, from a young age. In 1939 he met Curzio Malaparte who gave him work, using him first as a proofreader and then as an editorial collaborator of the magazine "Prospettive". He wrote short stories for children and ladies, selling them under a fake name to newspapers. After 8 September 1943 he went into hiding in Tuscany, near Arezzo, and made contact with the nuclei of the Resistance. Wanted, he fled to Veneto, where he remained until 1945, founding and directing a newspaper entitled the "Insurrection". In the autumn of the same year he arrived in Rome, where he exhibited the rich graphic production created during his period as a fugitive. Part of the drawings and watercolors were exhibited at the “Il Cortile” gallery, on the occasion of an anthological exhibition on contemporary drawing. His friendship with Mario Mafai, who hosted him in his studio, gave rise to a working partnership that was fundamental for his entire career. The first great success occurred in 1950, on the occasion of a personal exhibition at the Vetrina di Chiurazzi, introduced and curated by Mafai. Equally important for Villoresi was his friendship with Corrado Alvaro and Ezio Taddei. From 1950 he exhibited several times, not only in Italy, but also abroad, also attracting the favor of the American director John Huston, his great collector. In 1958, after a serious car accident, he preferred to live near Arezzo, settling in Rigutino until the time of his death.
