SCARFOGLIO, Edoardo (Paganica, 1860 - Napoli, 1917)Lettera autografa indirizzate a Olga Ossani

Edoardo Scarfoglio (Paganica, 26 September 1860 – Naples, 6 October 1917) was a journalist, writer and publisher. In 1881, he began collaborating with Angelo Sommaruga's Cronaca bizantina, to which Giosue Carducci, Giovanni Verga, Luigi Capuana, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Luigi Lodi contributed, and joined the editorial staff of "Capitan Fracassa", a Roman daily newspaper founded in 1880 by Luigi Arnaldo Vassallo. Working on the editorial staff of these newspapers, he was able to broaden his knowledge of literature and journalism and met Matilde Serao, whom he married in Rome on 28 February 1885. At the end of the same year, the couple founded the Corriere di Roma, which remained in circulation until 1 January 1888, when the new Corriere di Napoli, edited by Scarfoglio, was launched. The newspaper entered into crisis due to political issues, until Scarfoglio and Serao finally abandoned it and founded Il Mattino in March 1892. Scarfoglio published a volume of short stories in 1883 ("Processo di Frine") and a collection of critical writings in 1884-1885 ("Il libro di Don Chisciotte").

Olga Ossani (Rome, 1857 - Rome 1933) was an important journalist and writer. She was an active promoter of the Italian feminist movement, strongly supporting, through her journalistic writings, women's right to vote, to study, to equal working conditions and to divorce. She began her journalistic career in Naples in 1883 with her first contributions to the fortnightly magazine Cronaca bizantina. The following year, the journalist Edoardo Scarfoglio introduced her to Capitan Fracassa. In 1884, she moved to Rome, where she met Gabriele D'Annunzio, with whom she had a romantic relationship, and journalist Luigi Lodi, who became her husband in 1885.

In the following years, she intensified her journalistic activity, collaborating with numerous newspapers, often signing with the pseudonym Febea. During those same years, she and her husband purchased the villa in Santa Marinella, where they hosted the intellectuals of the moment during the summer months, including Trilussa, Pietro Mascagni, Luigi Pirandello, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Maria Montessori, Matilde Serao, Eleonora Duse and Grazia Deledda. In the years that followed, Olga Ossani combined her intense journalistic activity with an active commitment to women's rights. Together with Maria Montessori, she was the Italian delegate to the International Women's Congress held in London in 1899.