Silvio D'Amico

Silvio D'Amico (February 3, 1887 in Rome - April 1, 1955 in Rome) was an Italian theatre critic, journalist, and theorist of Italian theater. Not a Fascist himself, D'Amico was the major theater critic during the ventennio, the twenty years (1922-1945) of Fascist rule in Italy. He was the first editor of the nine volume Enciclopedia dello Spettacolo (Encyclopedia of Performing Arts), published between 1954 and 1965, that covered theater, music, cinema, and dance. Most notably, he held an eminent position in theatrical study in Italy, giving his name to the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome, Italy's most prestigious drama school.

Biography

"What mass theater could be more authentic than that of the people gathered in Piazza Venezia, when Mussolini speaks from his balcony?" (S. D'Amico)

A Catholic, D'Amico was educated by Jesuits at Rome's Massimiliano Massimo Institute. After graduating in law in 1911, he was appointed to the Ministry of Education to the Directorate General for Antiquities and Fine Arts. In 1923, he became professor of theater history in the Royal School of Acting "Eleonora Duse." He met Duse when he was young and ambitious, a time when D'Amico wanted to create an Italian national theatre that produced works of young Italian playwrights.