A square in Florence dedicated to Oriana Fallaci

FLORENCE, ITALY – Florence City Council approved the naming of the square in front of the Fortezza da Basso and the extra stop of the tramway to the Florentine journalist and writer Oriana Fallaci, ten years after her death. This was announced by Mayor Dario Nardella in recent days.

Fallaci (photo by GianAngelo Pistoia via Wikimedia) was born in Florence, Italy, on June 29, 1929. A partisan during World War II, she had a long and successful journalistic career. Fallaci became famous worldwide for her coverage of war and revolution, and her interviews with many world leaders during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Her book Interview with History contains candid, lengthy, penetrating interviews with Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, Yasser Arafat, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Willy Brandt, Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Henry Kissinger and many others. She also interviewed Deng Xiaoping, Lech Wałęsa, Muammar Gaddafi, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart and 18th Duchess of Alba.

After September 11, 2001, Fallaci wrote three books and several articles critical of Islamic extremists and Islam in general, that aroused condemnation as well as support.

Fallaci died on September 15, 2006 in Florence, from lung cancer. She was buried in the Cimitero Evangelico degli Allori (Florence). Her writings have been translated into 21 languages and have sold over one million copies.