Curzio Malaparte, stage name Curt Erich Suckert, was born in Prato on June 9th 1898, to Erwin, a dyer of Saxon origin, and Eugenia Perelli.

Even as a child he showed a restless nature, which led him to develop a turbulent personality, tending to be in opposition, in malaparte, as he himself wished to emphasise with the name he took as an emblem of ‘a controversial and radically polemical identity’.

Prato was the city where his first intellectual training took place and where he began his literary activity, which declined at various levels and in various spheres, including – and in a very productive manner – journalism.

He fought in both World Wars. He also became an officer, but without detaching himself from his literary vocation. Rather, the experience of the war became a crucial event, which greatly influenced his person, fostering his approach – intellectual and active – to politics.

Talented and enterprising, he had a prolific and bilingual pen (he wrote, in fact, in both Italian and French): among his most famous essays are Viva Caporetto! (1921) and Italia barbara (1925), while his novels include Kaputt (1944) and La pelle (1949).

His multifaceted and articulate figure allowed him to read reality at a deep and complex level, making him one of the most emblematic characters of the 20th century.

He died in Rome on July 19th 1957.

You can consult the birth certificate on the Ancestors Portal: Archivio di Stato di Prato > Stato civile italiano > Prato > 1898

Note the note in the margin, written in pencil, stating that the name change from Curt Erich Suckert to Curzio Malaparte was approved by royal decree on April 15th 1937.

The original is kept at the State Archives of Prato

For more on the figure of Curzio Malaparte, see the entry in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani edited by Marino Biondi.