BIOGRAPHY

Emilio Praga was born in Gorla, a Milan suburb, on 18 December 1839. He was from a well-off family, and started painting and writing poetry at a young age. He graduated from grammar school aged 18, and was introduced to Milan's literary salons through his mother. Throughout 1857 to 1859 he travelled through Holland, Switzerland and France, coming into contact with the Parisian literary scene, especially Baudelaire, who became a major influence on his writing; Hugo, Heine and Poe were among his other major influences. After many travels, bohemian style, through Northern Italy, he published "Tavolozza" (Palette), his first poetry collection, in 1862. He got rave reviews; the critic Antonio Ghislanzoni wrote: "finally, we have a real poet". Praga showcased four paintings at the Academy of Brera in the same year, an appointment which he repeated punctually for several years. Two years later he married Anna Maria Benfereri; their son Marco, future playwright, was born soon afterwards.
With poet-musician Arrigo Boito and the poet Bernardino Zendrini, he ran the journal "Figaro" for a season in 1864, launching the Milanese Scapigliatura movement in earnest. His second poetry collection came out in the same year, the notorious "Penombre" (Penumbrae), in which his early romantic and impressionistic style changed into the gothic, dark vision of a poet alienated from the world of the new, post-unification Italy. Praga is considered the premier Italian 'poete maudit' still today. A third collection came out in 1867, "Fiabe e Leggende" (Fables and Legends). Praga wrote prose as well: "Schizzi a penna" (Pencil sketches, 1865) his travel diary from the late 1850s; the early novel "Due Destini" (Two Destinies, 1868); one short story : "Tre storie in una" (Three stories into one, 1869) and later, the novel "Memorie del Presbiterio" (Memoirs of the Presbytery) left unfinished and completed by the Piedmontese Scapigliato Roberto Sacchetti, published posthumously in 1881, justly considered a classic of modern Italian literature. After the death of his father, an the decline of the family tanning business, Praga suffered from financial problems, which caused him to rely more and more on absinthe and laudanum in order to cope with his situation.
Unable to make a living from his writing or to keep his job as literature teacher at the Milan conservatoire, he descended into a spiral of alcohol and drug abuse; his wife left him, taking his beloved Marco with her. He left a significant legacy, despite the conservative and general backlash against the Scapigliatura movement. Another blow was the break up of his relationship with Arrigo Boito, a close friend and brother-in-arms, who detached himself from the other scapigliati in the late 1860s, to the point of being considered a traitor by many.
Praga died aged 36; he collapsed in the street after reciting a drunken poem in a Milan tavern, on 26 December 1875.
His last poetry collection, "Trasparenze" (Transparencies), considered the precursor of Italian Decadentism, and also of the 'crepuscolari poets', was published posthumously in 1878.