A Journalist, writer and TV presenter, he was born in Rome in 1935. He spent many years abroad, first in Paris and then in New York, where he was correspondent for the weekly L'Espresso and the daily la Repubblica. Over the years, he presented various TV programs including Telefono giallo and Quante storie. He published a trilogy of novels (Quel treno da Vienna, Il fazzoletto azzurro, L'ultima primavera) where through an imaginary brother of Andrea Sperelli (Gabriele D'Annunzio's literary hero) important vicissitudes of Italian history are told. As a crime writer he also published Telefono giallo. Sette delitti quasi perfetti, Una ragazza per la notte and Quella mattina di luglio. He comes back in 1998 and 199 with the essay-narratives Il viaggiatore alato and Modigliani, both dealing with the italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. His series of short stories about the dark, mysterious side of some capitals of the world (from I segreti di Parigi to I segreti di Istanbul) was reprinted and translated into many languages, as well as his essays on Vatican and Italian unification.

(photo: © Festivaletteratura)