La strada per Roma

Paolo Volponi (1924–1994) was an Italian writer, poet, and politician whose novels, including Memoriale (1962), La macchina mondiale (1965), and La strada per Roma (1991), critiqued the human costs of post-WWII Italian industrialization and societal alienation. He won Italy's prestigious Strega Prize twice (1965 and 1991), the Viareggio Prize twice (1960 and 1975), and the Mondello Prize (1986), becoming one of only two authors to achieve the Strega double. Born in Urbino, he worked at Olivetti and Fiat before serving as a senator from 1983 to 1992.