Renato Simoni

An Italian drama critic, playwright and librettist, and with Giuseppe Adami the author of Turandot. He began as a critic in Verona at nineteen, moved to Milan, and became drama critic of the Corriere della Sera, a post he held until his death. He also succeeded Giuseppe Giacosa as editor of the review La lettura, which probably recommended him to Puccini. He wrote comedies, one of them in Venetian dialect, the librettos of Giordano's Madame Sans-Gêne and Rocca's Il dibuk, and children's verse under the name Turno. His theatre library, some 40,000 volumes, went to La Scala's museum.