Franco Ferrario

Last updated
Franco Ferrario
Franco F Ferrario circa 90 anni.jpg
Franco Ferrario, around 90 years old
Born
Franco Filippo Ferrario

1934 (age 91–92) [1]
Novara [1]
Other namesTripeleff
CitizenshipItalian
Education
Occupations
Known forTourism geography; literary works under the pen name Tripeleff
Website tripeleff.org

Franco Filippo Ferrario, also known by his pen name Tripeleff (Novara, 1934 [1] ), is an Italian writer, geographer, and historian.

Contents

In academic research, he has published several articles examining the role of landscape in the evaluation of a region's tourism potential.

In the literary field, he is the author of novels and historical short stories that incorporate themes of homosexual eroticism, some of which have attained cult status within Italian gay cultural circles.

Biography

He was born in Novara in 1934 [1] Given his ancestry mainly from Novara, he defines himself as a fifth generation Novarese [2] .

In 1959, he graduated cum laude in ancient history at the University of Milan. In his final year of study, he conducted research at the Italian Institute of Historical Studies (B. Croce Foundation) in Naples under a scholarship. [3]

The following year, he was recruited by Pirelli and moved to Milan, where he worked for six years in the advertising department under the guidance of Arrigo Castellani. [4] He later described the experience as intense, exciting, and highly inspiring. [3]

Academic career abroad

He then moved to the United States, enrolling in 1966 at the University of California, Berkeley, where he later remained as an assistant. Upon his arrival at Berkeley, he received the nickname Triple F, due to the identical initials, from which he would later take his pen name, Tripeleff. In his final year, the university sent him to complete a six-month internship at the Regional and Community Development division of the United Nations in New York. He had a rather dull memory of the experience. In 1969, he completed his studies, obtaining a PhD in geography. [3] [5]

Franco Ferrario in 1984 Franco F Ferrario 1984.jpg
Franco Ferrario in 1984

In 1970, he moved to South Africa, where he held the position of Senior Lecturer in geography at the University of Cape Town for the next 15 years. [3] [5] During that period, he published several articles on methods for evaluating a region's tourism potential, decisively correlating it with landscape (see the Nonfiction section). He gradually abandoned university teaching in favour of consultancy work. [6]

Return to Italy and literary work

In his early fifties he abandoned his career abroad and returned to Italy. [4] [6] He took advantage of retirement in 1986, occasionally working as an editorial consultant for a few more years. [3] [5] During this period, he began writing: he began with short, amusing and rather irreverent stories, such as Un'avventura galante del conte di Cavour (A gallant adventure of the Count of Cavour) and La vendetta di papa Giuseppe (The revenge of Pope Joseph). He kept these writings initially unpublished. [4] [6]

Between 1989 and 1990, over the course of a few months, he wrote his first novel, Odo e Riprando. The work is inspired by historical figures from 11th-century Novara — Oddo II and Riprando of Pombia, the 48th and 47th bishops of Novara respectively — and interweaves their relationship with the historical events of the Diocese of Novara. The work was published the following year and won first prize in the national competition L'autore (The author), organized by the publishing house Firenze Libri. It also proved to be a moderate commercial success, even decades later [4] , and immediately became a cult work in Milanese gay circles. [7] In 1993 the work was translated into German by Thomas Rodermund. [8]

The success of Odo e Riprando led to several related initiatives from 1992 onward. That year, a dramatized adaptation was produced and staged in Canonica Alley in Novara, setting of the opening of the novel, accompanied by a historical introduction and live music. At the same time, a group of Milan-based readers organized a visit to locations featured in the novel [7] , repeated in the following years with Ferrario himself as guide. [9] [10]

In 1992, he submitted the story Un'avventura galante del conte di Cavour (A gallant adventure of the Count of Cavour) to the Millelire in corso competition, organized by publisher Stampa Alternativa at Turin Book Fair. The work won the competition and was subsequently published. It achieved significant commercial success and attracted critical attention. Art critic Federico Zeri described the author as a skilled writer capable of combining erotic and humorous elements. The publication also generated controversy in Italy, prompting critical responses from national newspapers and magazines, including Corriere della Sera and Panorama. The latter also investigated the identity behind the pen name Tripeleff, eventually revealing the author to be a Novara-born writer, aged fifty-eight at the time. [5] [6]

Awards

Works

Nonfiction

In academic circles and in related publications he is sometimes erroneously reported as Francesco Ferrario. [12]

Fiction

Other

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Erica Bertinotti (17 November 2017). "La Madonnina per esorcizzare il fantasma di Celestina? È tutta una bufala che scredita il vicolo della Canonica" [The Madonna to exorcise Celestina's ghost? It's all a hoax that discredits the Canonica alley]. Novara Oggi (in Italian). p. 18. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  2. ↑ Luca Mattioli (11 December 2008). "Un Convito nella... soffitta di Edmondo Poletti" [A banquet in... Edmondo Poletti's Attic]. Corriere di Novara (in Italian). Novara. p. 54. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Franco Ferrario - Libero professionista" [Franco Ferrario - Freelancer]. LinkedIn. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Franco F. Ferrario (2025), "Odo e Riprando" e il castello di Barbablù ["Odo and Riprando" and Bluebeard's castle](PDF) (in Italian), retrieved 3 December 2025
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Paolo Benacchio (22 October 1992). "La strana avventura di Cavour" [Cavour's strange adventure]. La Stampa (in Italian). p. 39. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Tripeleff (2012), Una completa confessione dell'autore [A complete confession from the author] (in Italian), retrieved 30 November 2025
  7. 1 2 3 Marcello Giordani (17 July 1992). "Odo e Riprando in scena nel vicolo" [Odo and Riprando on stage in the alley]. La Stampa (in Italian). p. 42. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
  8. ↑ Franco Tripeleff (1993). Der Liebhaber des Bischofs (in German). Translated by Thomas Rodermund. Berlin: Bruno Gmünder.
  9. ↑ Marcello Giordani (8 October 1994). "In gita con i gay sulle orme di Odo e Riprando. Promossa da Babilonia" [A gay outing in the footsteps of Odo and Riprando. Sponsored by Babilonia]. La Stampa (in Italian). p. 36. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  10. ↑ Marcello Giordani (17 June 1993). "Gita al Veglia. Sulle orme di Riprando" [Trip to Veglia. In the footsteps of Riprando]. La Stampa. p. 43. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  11. ↑ Society for Geography, ed. (1978). "[Unknown title]". South African Geographer (in English and Dutch) (6–7). Vereniging vir Geografie: 106. Retrieved 4 December 2025.
  12. ↑ UC Berkeley (ed.). "Past Dissertations - Pre-2000". Berkeley Geography. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
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