Born in Naples, he studied in Milan, Paris and Bergamo, where he started his teaching and researching career. As a writer he made his debut in 2002 with the novel Il rumore sordo della battaglia (Mondadori), a historical fiction book that follows the guns diffusion epic, introducing some of the themes that characterize his following production. Many times, he found himself exploring the history of wars, conflict and violence through fiction and nonfiction. In 2005 Il sopravvissuto (Bompiani) earned him the premio Campiello. In 2007 he published the renaissance historical novel Una storia romantica (Bompiani), followed by Il bambino che sognava la fine del mondo (Bompiani, 2009), La seconda mezzanotte (Bompiani, 2011) and Il tempo migliore della nostra vita (Bompiani, 2015). With M. Il figlio del secolo (Bompiani) that tracks the early story of Benito Mussolini, he won the premio Strega in 2019. The second part of the work, M. L’uomo della provvidenza, is due in 2020.