Background
Gattai was born in São Paulo Paulo city, state of São Paulo, on July 2, 1916, to a family of Italian immigrants. Her mother, Angelina Da Colonel, was a Catholic.
Gattai was born in São Paulo Paulo city, state of São Paulo, on July 2, 1916, to a family of Italian immigrants. Her mother, Angelina Da Colonel, was a Catholic.
University of Paris.
Gattai"s father, Ernesto Gattai, was an anarchist and came from the region of Veneto, following the social anarchist experiment called Colônia Cecília. After the failure of Colônia Cecília, the Gattais moved to São Paulo, where Ernesto Gattai worked as a chauffeur for wealthy families and later as a car mechanic. She used the opportunity to get a degree in Literature at the Sorbonne, in 1949.
Upon returning to Brazil, she and Amado settled in Salvador, in the state of Bahia, where Amado was born, and raised a family.
Gattai began her literary career in 1979 with an autobiography about her early life, titled Anarquistas, Graças a Deus ("Anarchists, Thanks to God") which became a bestseller when it was dramatized as a miniseries by the Globo Television Network, capturing a huge audience. She later wrote eight further sequels to her autobiography, telling her love story with Jorge Amado (A Hat for a Voyage, The Lady of the Ball, Winter Garden, A Boys" Ground, The House of Rio Vermelho, Cittá di Roma, Family Codes and Jorge Amado, a Romantic and Sensuous Baiano).
She also wrote three successful books for children and a novel. Gattai died at 16:30, in Salvador, Brazil, aged 91.
She was in hospital for 31 days, recovering from surgery.
Academia Brasileira de Letras.