Writer and critic Enzo Siciliano, a close friend of literary lions Alberto Moravia and Pier Paolo Pasolini, died on Friday in Rome at the age of 72. An art and cultural critic, he wrote extensively for Rome daily La Repubblica and its sister publication the newsweekly L'Espresso, where he inherited Moravia's movie column.
Siciliano wrote a definitive biography of Pasolini in 1978 and pressed continually - and successfully - for the reopening of investigations into his friend' death. Among his other books were the Viareggio-prize-winning La Principessa e L'Antiquario (The Princess and the Antiquarian, 1980), the Strega winner I Bei Momenti (A Fine Time, 1998) and Il Risveglio Della Bionda Sirena (The Blonde Mermaid Wakes Up, 2004).
Siciliano was also head of the RAI public broadcasting corporation for a year and a half from July 1996, when the first Prodi government tried to cut RAI's traditional of political fealty by appointing non-aligned intellectuals. His term was marked by an attempt to bring opera back to prime time, clashes with personalities like Pippo Baudo and Renzo Arbore, and a steep audience decline.
A recognised public intellectual, Siciliano was a classical music buff and for a long time director of Florence's prestigious literary institution the Gabinetto Viesseux.
