ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE D', prince of Monte Nevoso (1864-1938), Italian novelist, poet and soldier, of Dalmatian extraction, was born at Pescara (Abruzzi) in 1864. While still at school he published Primo Vere (1879) a volume of verse which was highly praised by Giuseppe Chiarini. The young poet then went to Rome, where he was received as one of their own by the Cronaca Bizantina group. Here he published Canto Nuovo (5882), Terra Vergine (5883), L'Intermezzo di Rime (1884), Il Libro delle Vergini (1884), and the greater part of the short stories that were afterwards collected under the general title of San Pantaleone (1886) . The style and contents of the Inter mezzo di Rime began to startle his critics ; some who had greeted him as an enfant prodige—Chiarini amongst others—rejected him as a perverter of public morals, whilst others hailed him as one bringing a current of fresh air and the impulse of a new vitality into Italian literature.
Meanwhile Gabriele d'Annunzio joined the staff of the Tribuna. For this paper, under the pseudonym of "Duca Minimo," he did some of his most brilliant work. To this period of greater maturity and deeper culture belongs Il Libro d'Isotta (1886), a love poem, in which for the first time he drew inspiration adapted to modern sentiments and passions from the rich colours of the Renaissance.
D'Annunzio's first novel Il Piacere (1889), Eng. trans., The Child of Pleasure (1898), was followed in 1892 by L'Innocente (Eng. trans., The Intruder, 1899), and by Giovanni Episcopo. These three novels created a profound impression. His next work, Il Trion f o della Monte (1894) , Eng. trans., The Triumph of Death (1896), was followed by Le Vergini delle Rocce (1896) and Il Fuoco (1900), which in its descriptions of Venice is per haps the most ardent glorification of a city existing in any lan guage. D'Annunzio's poetic work of this period, in most respects his finest, is represented by II Poema Paradisiaco (1893) , the Odi Navali (1893), a superb attempt at civic poetry, and Laudi (19oo).
During these years he began to write for the stage. Il Sogno di un mattino di Primavera (1897) is a lyric fantasia in one act; Citta Morta (5898), written for Sarah Bernhardt, has its scene laid in Mycenae, and is inspired by Greek tragedy. In 1898 he wrote his Sogno d'un tramonto d'autunno and La Gioconda, which provided Eleonora Duse with one of the most poignant of her roles; in 1899 La Gloria, a contemporary political tragedy with many audacious personal and political allusions; and then Francesca da Rimini (1902), a magnificent reconstruction of mediaeval atmosphere and emotion. All of these, splendid as they are in texture and in the gorgeous imagery of the verse, miss great tragedy, perhaps because of the poet's excessive pre occupation with sensation, with colour and sound and movement. La Figlia di Jorio, a powerful peasant tragedy of his own wild home in the Abruzzi, rooted in the primitive fears, passions and superstitions of his countrymen, was published at Milan in 1904.
The years 1908-21 were of great importance in d'Annunzio's career, not only in the field of literature, but also in that of war and politics. In 5908 he produced La Nave, a vivid presentation of the early history of Venice, setting forth his aspiration for Italy's destiny as a great sea power and as the mistress of the Adriatic—a curious forecast of his future political action. The following year, Fedra, a classical drama, appeared; and in 1911 Le martyre de St. Sebastien, a dramatic mystery play in French verse with musical interludes by Debussy, was first performed in Paris. Though a remarkable tour de force and appreciated as such by French critics, this play was hardly one of his greatest achievements. Other plays of this period were La Pisanella ou la mort par f umee (1914) , written in French, and Parisina (i914), with music by Massenet. D'Annunzio did not, however, aban don the field of fiction, and in 1910 he published Forse the si, forse the no, a powerful, but somewhat long-winded novel, in which aviation played a considerable part. La Leda senza cigno (1913), consisting partly of essays and partly of fiction, originally appeared in the Corriere della Sera, and was afterwards issued in three volumes with a licenza in 1916. His purely poetic output was limited to the Canzoni della gesta d'Oltremara 0912), which dealt with the Libyan War and contained some admirable verse, as well as violent invectives against the Powers which were, in his opinion, hampering Italy in her Mediterranean policy. On the outbreak of the World War d'Annunzio was living in France, having had to leave Italy on account of financial diffi culties; but the moment the conflict began he became convinced of the necessity for Italy's intervention, in order to attain com plete unity and to establish her sovereignty in the Adriatic. In the spring of 'gas he returned to Italy, and his addresses to the Italian people, full of eloquent and inspiring patriotism, were afterwards published in a volume Per la pas grande Italia (1915) . From the moment Italy declared war d'Annunzio's career became one of the most romantic of modern times; for the man who had hitherto been regarded merely as a sensuous aesthete and a decadent, and whose claim to distinction had been his exquisite sense of beauty and his mastery of the language, now proved himself to be a man of action and a politician who for many months defied powerful governments. He volunteered for active service. He served successively in the cavalry, the infantry and the navy ; finally he joined the air service in the hope of achieving immortality even at the cost of his life. His exploits in the air were of the most fantastic nature. In one of his flights he lost an eye, in another was wounded in the wrist, and on several occasions his aeroplane was riddled with bullets. In Aug. 1918 he led a flight over Vienna, dropping propaganda pamphlets over the city. During the first period of the World War he published ten war poems, some of them of great beauty.
After the Armistice the attitude of the Allied Powers, and especially that of President Wilson towards Italy, aroused d'Annunzio's bitter indignation, and his letters and articles in this connection, collected in the volume Contro uno a contro tutti (1919), occupy a place in the literature of invective. The ex treme violence of his language helped to embitter the relations between Italy and President Wilson. During the Nitti regime d'Annunzio personified the patriotic reaction against the Govern ment's policy. The Fiume dispute symbolized in his mind the conflict between Italy's aspirations and the counter claims of her neighbours. When, as a result of the commission of enquiry into the anti-French riots at Fiume, it was decided considerably to reduce the Italian garrison and to police the town with Maltese or U. S. gendarmes, a movement was planned by Major Reina of the Granatieri brigade to re-occupy the town with regular troops and volunteers. D'Annunzio accepted the leadership of the expedition, and on the night of Sept. 11-12 he marched from Ronchi at the head of detachments of grenadiers and other troops triumphantly and re-entered Fiume.
For 15 months he defied the Italian Government, and, indeed, the whole of Europe with success. He assumed the style of ruler or commandant of Fiume and made of the town a new state. His "reign" was characterized by a picturesque mysticism, with Ital ian patriotism as the first article of his creed; and enthusiasts flocked to his standard. But his language and action became more exaggerated. When the Rapallo Treaty was concluded in 1920 he refused to recognize it, as he disapproved of its provisions regard ing Fiume and Dalmatia. The Government was finally obliged to resort to force in order to carry out the Rapallo Treaty, and d'Annunzio, after vowing to hold Fiume to the bitter end, finally submitted in Jan. 1921, and left the city. He then went to live at Gardone on the lake of Garda.