Dario Fo was born on March 24, 1926, in San Giano, Lombardy, Italy, a small fishing village near the border of Switzerland. He was the oldest of three children born to his peasant mother and railway worker father. Fo grew up listening to local storytellers in San Giano and then in Porto Valtraglia, where his family moved when he was 10. He credits both them and his parents with inspiring his own inventiveness and nurturing his imagination.
Fo came of age during World War II. In 1944, Mussolini took control of Fo's home village; Fo joined the army but deserted soon afterwards. His family was staunchly anti-fascist, helping Jewish people and Allied prisoners of war escape into neutral...
