# Giovanni Franchi — Poetry character guide

> Giovanni Franchi in Poetry by Mina Loy.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Giovanni, Franchi

**First appearance:** 0013-giovanni-franchi

## Snapshot

Hooligan-faced and Latin-born, Giovanni Franchi is the trattoria-keeper's son who apes the philosopher Bapini, his adolescence flicking from his wrists as he scuttles after flags and war.

## Who they are

Giovanni Franchi haunts Paszkowski's and the piazzas of Florence, his articulations excellent, his wrists explaining things infectiously, his adolescence all there is of him. He is disciple to the philosopher Giovanni Bapini, mimicking the older man's look and manner while remaining merely pale where Bapini was cymophanous. Around him circle three women in identical ferned dresses, each chasing a different first—faithfulness, self-loyalty, or the philosopher's toes—and Franchi's awkward, patriotic posturing becomes the pivot of their divergent instincts.

## In the story

### [Italian Pictures](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/italian-pictures)

Giovanni Franchi is the father who bewitches his daughter Cesira, mumbling maledictions and incantations at the window.

### [One O’Clock at Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/one-o-clock-at-night)

The 'indisputable male voice' arguing dynamic decomposition, likely representing the male intellectual presence.

### [Giovanni Franchi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/giovanni-franchi)

The titular character, a young, hooligan-faced disciple of Giovanni Bapini, whose adolescence defines him and who is caught between his master's influence and the woman's curiosity.

### [The Effectual Marriage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/chapters/the-effectual-marriage)

Portrayed as Miovanni, the husband who remains monumentally the same, absorbed in his own ego and intellectual pursuits in his library.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters/giovanni_franchi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_17_se/characters