Nuorese Cultural DistrictFrancesco Cucca (b. Nuoro, 25 January 1882–d. Naples, 7 May 1947) was an Italian writer and poet.
Francesco Cucca
Description
Forced to abandon his studies, he spent his early adolescence as a shepherd’s assistant in Nuoro and then Fonni, between 1894 and 1895, for one of his mother’s uncles, a wise old man who impressed upon him the importance of emigration for the liberation of the younger generation. And Cucca heeded this advice: after having worked as a miner and a wine shop boy in Iglesias from 1896 to 1902, he set sail for Africa.
For more than thirty years, he worked as a representative, agent and administrator for the wood importer Lumbroso of Livorno. His life in Maghreb had a profound effect on him. He learned the language, adapted himself to local customs and was even briefly married to a girl named Gharmia.
During his constant travel between Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, Cucca revealed his true nature as a writer, devoting himself to long- and short-form narrative in novellas like the ones in I racconti del gorbino (1909) and the novel Muni rosa del Suf (1903–1912), poetry (Veglie beduine; 1912), travel writing (Galoppate nell'Islam; 1922) and even anti-colonialist essay writing (Algeria, Tunisia, Marocco, published in 1998).
His tie to the island and its most enlightened minds never wavered and he contributed to magazines like Rivista Sarda, Il Nuraghe and Il convegno.
The last time Cucca returned to Nuoro was in 1919, for the elections. After this, information about his life becomes increasingly scarce, probably due to the rise of the fascist dictatorship that must have must have been anathema to someone like Cucca: anti-clergy, anti-colonialist, anti-interventionist and member of international anarchic circles.
In 1939, economic difficulties forced him to leave Africa and he settled in Rome. Exploiting his language skills, he worked as a teacher, interpreter and translator, and published books about his experiences in Africa, although with little success.
He worked as a technical consultant at the Ministry of Industry between 1941 and 1942 and as an inspector at ENAL (the National Workers Assistance Board) in Naples, a position he held until his death.