GALLINA, GIACINTO

GALLINA, GIACINTO. - Playwright, b. in Venice on 31 July 1852, d. there on 13 Feb. 1897. From his boyhood he lived in the Venetian theatrical milieu, and for very many years he was director of a prose company performing in Venetian dialect, in which the celebrated Marianna Moro-Lin acted as leading actress, and from which such actors as Emilio Zago, Amalia Borisi, and Ferruccio Benini emerged. For this Venetian company he wrote numerous dialect comedies, such as I oci del cuor, La mama no more mai, Serenissima, and his masterpiece, La famegia del santolo. A sensitive temperament, rich in delicate expression, Goldonian in a key of sentimental lyricism, G. was able to express, with great poetic effectiveness, the goodness, morality, and gentleness of spirit of his people, their small dramas and everyday joys.