Giovannino Guareschi

Giovannino Oliviero Giuseppe Guareschi was an Italian journalist, cartoonist and humorist whose most famous creation is the priest Don Camillo.

Giovannino Guareschi was born in Fontanelle di Roccabianca in the Province of Parma in 1908. He hailed from a middleclass family. Guareschi always joked about the fact that he, a large man, was baptized Giovannino, a name meaning little John or Johnny. In 1926 his family went bankrupt, and he could not continue his studies at the University of Parma. After working at various minor jobs, he started to write for a local newspaper, the Gazzetta di Parma. In 1929 he became editor of the satirical magazine Corriere Emiliano, and from 1936 to 1943 he was the chief editor of a similar magazine called Bertoldo.

Source: Wikipedia