Farewell to Goffredo Fofi, the Critical Conscience of Italian Culture

A fearless voice for the marginalized, Fofi shaped Italy’s cultural and social debates across six decades.

Goffredo Fofi, one of Italy’s last great militant intellectuals and a tireless film, literary, and social critic, has passed away at the age of 88. For over sixty years, he was a sharp, independent voice in Italy’s cultural landscape, consistently intertwining cultural work with social commitment.

Born in Gubbio in 1937, Fofi grew up in Naples, a city that deeply shaped his worldview and commitment to social justice. From a young age, he engaged in grassroots activism, collaborating with Danilo Dolci in Sicily and working with popular education initiatives in Palermo, before moving to Turin, where he connected with the student and workers’ movements of the 1960s.

In the 1960s, he founded and directed the magazine Quaderni Piacentini, which became a vital platform for a generation of intellectuals and activists. His approach to film criticism was always intertwined with his political and civic engagement, writing for publications including Panorama, Il Messaggero, La Stampa, and Il Sole 24 Ore, while maintaining his trademark independence and rigor.

Fofi consistently advocated for an accessible, non-elitist culture that paid attention to marginalized voices and excluded communities. He founded and directed influential magazines such as Linea d’Ombra, Lo Straniero, and, more recently, Gli Asini, transforming them into meeting grounds for writers, educators, artists, and activists.

Beyond film criticism, he authored essays on literature and social issues, publishing works on Pier Paolo Pasolini, Elsa Morante, and Primo Levi, as well as on immigration, education, and cultural poverty.

His style, often direct and polemical, reflected his refusal to compromise with power structures, upholding a vision of the intellectual as someone responsible for social justice rather than cultural decoration. Even in his final years, despite health challenges, Fofi continued to write, intervene in public debates, and curate Gli Asini, remaining faithful to his belief that culture should “serve” rather than merely adorn.