VERGA, GIOVANNI (1840–), Italian novelist, was born at Catania, Sicily. In 1865 he published Storia di una peccatrice and I Carbonari della montagna, but his literary reputation was established by his Eva and Storia di una capinera (1869). Other novels followed, the best of which are Malavoglia (1881) and Maestro Don Gesualdo (1889). His finest work, however, is seen in his short stories and sketches of Sicilian peasantry, Medda (1874) and Vita dei campi (1880); and his Cavalleria Rusticana acquired new popularity from its dramatization and from Mascagni’s opera on this subject. Verga and Fogazzaro between them may be said to have faithfully chronicled the inner and popular life of southern and northern Italy.