Goliarda Sapienza (1924 –1996) was an Italian author and actress.
She started writing her novel L’arte della gioia (the Art of Life) in 1967 and finished it in 1976. Goliarda Sapienza managed to have only the first part published in 1994 by Stampa Alternativa, because other Italian publishers considered the text too experimental and immoral, or too traditional. Her husband, Angelo Pellegrino had it published posthumously at his own expenses in 1998. In 2005 L’arte della gioia was published in France, achieving considerable success. Only in 2008 Einaudi published it in Italy.

"Iuzza,", the title chosen by Francesca Todde recalls the affectionate inflection the writer was known by since childhood in her native Catania. Francesca Todde wanted to explore the visual imagery surrounding Sapienza's work: fascinated by the author's epic yet highly personal writing, she was appalled by the covers with which publishers illustrated her books, to the point that she chose to cover them with other images. From this instinctive action, Francesca Todde began in 2017 the visual research for "Iuzza" and she concluded in 2024, seeking to do justice to the visual alphabet that permeates Sapienza's work. Iuzza is an instinctive immersion in the life of Goliarda Sapienza, presented in seven symbolic chapters that explore incisive fragments of the author's written memoirs and panoramas of places relived like flashes of the heart by the photographer.