Erelong he abandoned the bar and devoted himself with equal enthusiasm to music and poetry, for both of which he had unusual aptitude.

Down to 1881 he printed chiefly volumes of verse which gave him a genuine, if not popular reputation.

In that year he brought out his first romance, _Malombra_, and from time to time during the past quarter of a century he has followed it with _Daniele Cortis_, _Il Mistero del Poeta_, _Piccolo Mondo Antico_, _Piccolo Mondo Moderno_, and finally, in the autumn of 1905, _Il Santo_.

This list by no means exhausts his productivity, for he has worked in many fields, but it includes the books by which, gradually at first, and with triumphant strides of late, he has come into great fame in Italy and has risen into the small group of living authors who write for a cosmopolitan public.
For many years past Signor Fogazzaro has dwelt in his native Vicenza, the most honoured of her citizens, round whom has grown up a band of eager disciples, who look to him for guidance not merely in matters intellectual or aesthetic, but in the conduct of life.

He has conceived of the career of man of letters as a great opportunity, not as a mere trade.