Antonio Ghirelli Fund

In February, 2013 Massimo and Guido Ghirelli, Antonio Ghirelli's sons (Naples 1922 - Rome,2012), decided to donate to the City Council a vast collection of books belonging to their father's library.

In memory of the strong ideological bond that always tied Antonio Ghirelli to Naples and to SanGiovanni a Teduccio neighborhood, writer's sons chose the library of the Municipality as the place where their father's books could be collected.
The Council, by resolution GC no. 377 of 19th April 2013, and accepting Councillor Antonella Di Nocera's proposal, accepted the donation and established "Antonio GirelliFund" at the library "Antonio Labriola" of the 6th Municipalityof Ponticelli, Barra and San Giovanni a Teduccio.

The collection, made of 1379 books, pamphlets and extracts from magazines, "reflects Ghirelli's wide range of intellectual interests and studies", moreover it represents a clear evidence of the writer's love for Naples, freedom and solidarity.

Biography

Antonio Ghirelli
Antonio Ghirelli was born in Naples in 1922. Since he was a child he was interested in journalism, indeed he started to write for the newspaper "9 Maggio", the newspaper of the University Fascist Youth of Naples. He joined the Italian Communist Party in 1942 and he took part to the Resistance. In Milan, he worked for "L'Unità" and "Milano Sera". Back to Rome, he became editor of "Paese Sera" for the sport section. After the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, he abandoned the Communist Party to join the Socialist Party. In 1978, immediately after the election of Sandro Pertini as Presidentof the Italian Republic, he became head of the press office at the Quirinale. In 1986 he became TG2 Director. From 1988 to 1989 he directed "L'Avanti!". He wrote and performed three plays: "Mettiamo le carte in tavola", with Aldo Giuffre, "Io Raffaele Viviani," with Achille Millo, and "Un borghese napoletano," with Sergio Romano. He died in 2012 in Rome.
 
Among his books:
"Storia del calcio in Italia", Einaudi, 1954
"Napoli sbagliata", Cappelli, 1963
"Storia di Napoli", Einaudi, 1973
"Napoli italiana", Einaudi, 1977.
"Effetto Craxi, Rizzoli", 1982
"Donna Matilde (Serao)", Marsilio, 1995
"Una bella storia. Italia 1943-1956", Avagliano 2011
"Tiranni". Mondadori, 2002.
"Un secolo di risate - con Eduardo, Totò e gli altri", Avagliano 2004
"Democristiani", Mondadori, 2004
"Aspettando la rivoluzione. Cento anni di sinistra italiana", Mondadori, 2008
"Una certa idea di Napoli", 2010
"Una moglie incantevole", Pironti, 2011
 
Cesare Lanza wrote about him: "Journalist, writer, partisan, restless and rebellious spirit, curious about everything and everyone, a good man. We remember his passion for politics, his talent, his versatility, his noble and Neapolitan blood, his humor, his gentle irony, his endless love for his wife Barbara. "