Virgilio Giotti is the pseudonym of Virgilio Schönbeck (his mother was called Ghiotto), who was born in 1885 in Trieste. In 1907, his family moved to Florence, where he worked as a travelling salesman. In 1912, he met Nina Schekotoff, from Moscow, who was to be his life-long partner. In 1920, he returned to Trieste and published prose and especially poetry, in several magazines including Solaria and La Riviera Ligure. He lived modestly in Trieste until his death. His first job was running a kiosk and he then became an employee of Trieste Hospital. He had three children: Tanda (Natàlia), Paolo and Franco. The two boys were sent to Russia during the Second World War but they lost their lives there and their bodies were never found.
For his sons, for their absence, he wrote a magnificent book or private diary: Appunti inutile (1959). In addition to this work, translated and published in Catalan by Cal·lígraf (2014), he wrote a number of other books: Piccolo canzoniere in dialetto triestino (1914), Caprizzi. Canzonete e Stòrie (1928), Liriche e idilli (1931), Colori (1941), Sera (1946) and Versi (1953). He died on 21 September 1957.
Virgilio Giotti, an excellent poet from Trieste who is too often forgotten, was acknowledged and remembered with the LiberPress Memorial Award for his exquisite and delicate literary work, both in Italian and in the Triestinian dialect. And for his personal and cultural trajectory. The award is also a tribute to his sons, Paolo (1915 – 1943) and Franco (1919 – 1943), soldiers who died in Russia and were never found. Because they live on in our memory.