Valerio Massimo Manfredi
- Writer
- essayist
- historian
- archaeologist
- journalist
Literature portal
Valerio Massimo Manfredi (born 8 March 1943) is an Italian historian, writer, essayist, archaeologist and journalist.
Biography
He was born in Piumazzo di Castelfranco Emilia province of Modena and, after getting a degree in Classical Arts at the University of Bologna, he became an archaeologist at the Catholic University of Milan, specialising in the topography of the Ancient World.[1]
At the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore itself, he taught from 1980 to 1986, then moved on to an academic career at the University of Venice (1987) and then at the Loyola University of Chicago, the Sorbonne University in Paris and the Bocconi University in Milan. However, due to his numerous commitments, both national and international, he can no longer lecture full-time, but he holds a visiting professor role.[2]
Between the 1970s and the 1980s, he has undertaken the "Anabasis" expeditions for the reconstruction of the itinerary of the Ten Thousand's retreat. This expedition covered a total of 18,000 km, with 2,000 photographs being taken. He undertook and led numerous other expeditions, such as: Lavinium, Forum Gallorum and Forte Urbano in Italy, Túcume (Peru), Har Karkom and other overseas locations.[3]
He has also held a series of conferences and seminars at the University of Oxford, University of California, National University of Canberra, Universidad de Antiochia, Universidad de Bilbao, Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo in Tenerife and many others.[1]
He has published many academic essays and articles and he has written several best-selling novels (amounting to a total of about 8 million copies sold worldwide). He also writes on many newspapers and magazines as a scientific journalist both in Italy (e.g., "Il Messaggero", "Panorama", "Archeo", "Focus") and in Spain (Spanish edition of "Focus" and "El Mundo").[4]
His novel The Last Legion was the basis for the movie of the same title, released in 2007 and starring Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley and others; his Alexander Trilogy has been bought by Universal Pictures for yet another cinematic rendition of the story of Alexander the Great.[1] He has also written the screenplays for Marco d'Aviano and Gilgamesh and he has adapted Le Memorie di Adriano for cinema screening. Furthermore, he has hosted the television series Stargate – linea di confine for three seasons already on the Italian TV channel LA7 and he will also host Impero (Empire) on the very same channel.
On 11 February 2021, Manfredi and fellow writer Antonella Prenner were found unconscious at his home in Rome, after suffering a domestic incident caused by an accidental gas leak. They were hospitalized in Grosseto; their conditions were described as critical.[5] They were later released.
Bibliography
Novels
- Palladion (1985)
- Spartan (Lo scudo di Talos, 1988)
- The Oracle (L'oracolo, 1990)
- Heroes, earlier titled Talisman of Troy (Le paludi di Hesperia, 1994)
- The Tower (La torre della solitudine, 1996)
- The Alexander Trilogy (Trilogia di Aléxandros, 1998)
- Child of a Dream (Il figlio del sogno)
- The Sands of Ammon (Le sabbie di Amon)
- The Ends of the Earth (Il confine del mondo)
- Pharaoh (Il faraone delle sabbie, 1998
- Chimaira ("Chimera", 2001)
- I cento cavalieri (Short story collection, 2002)
- The Last Legion (L'ultima legione, 2002)
- Tyrant (Il Tiranno, 2003)
- The Island of the Dead (L'isola dei morti, 2003)
- Empire of Dragons (L'impero dei draghi, 2005)
- The Lost Army (L'armata perduta, 2007)
- The Ides of March (Idi di marzo, 2008)
- The Ancient Curse (L'antica maledizione, 2010)
- A Winter's Night (Otel Bruni, 2011)
- Odysseus: The Oath (Il mio nome è Nessuno. Il giuramento, 2013)
- Odysseus: The Return (Il mio nome è Nessuno. Il ritorno, 2014)
- Wolves of Rome (Teutoburgo, 2016)
- Quinto comandamento (2018)
- Antica madre (2019)
- Quaranta giorni (2020)
Essays
- Greek Sea (Mare Greco. Eroi ed esploratori del mondo antico, 1994)
- The Celts in Italy (I Celti in Italia, 1999)
- Akropolis (2000)
- The Western Greeks (I Greci d'occidente, 2000)
- The Etruscans in the Pó Valley (Gli Etruschi in Val Padana, 2003)
- 2009 – La Tomba di Alessandro (2009)
Collaborations
- Vignola 1575 – Un oscuro delitto (with Omar Calabrese, 1999)
Filmography
Movies based on his books
- 1998 – Tower of the Firstborn (I Guardiani del Cielo)
- 2007 – The Last Legion
Screenplays
- 2006 – The Inquiry (L'Inchiesta)
- 2009 – Memoirs of Hadrian
Actor
- 2001 – Vajont – La Diga del Disonore
References
External links
- Valerio Massimo Manfredi at IMDb
- Valerio Massimo Manfredi on Fantastic Fiction
- v
- t
- e
- 1953 Ernest Hemingway
- 1954 Giovannino Guareschi
- 1955 Hervé Le Boterf
- 1956 Han Suyin
- 1957 Werner Keller
- 1958 Boris Pasternak
- 1959 Heinrich Gerlach
- 1960 Bonaventura Tecchi
- 1961 André Schwarz-Bart
- 1962 Cornelius Ryan
- 1963 Paolo Caccia Dominioni
- 1964 Giulio Bedeschi
- 1965 Luigi Preti
- 1966 Vincenzo Pappalettera
- 1967 Indro Montanelli
- 1968 Isaac Bashevis Singer
- 1969 Peter Colosimo
- 1970 Oriana Fallaci
- 1971 Enzo Biagi
- 1972 Alberto Bevilacqua
- 1973 Roberto Gervaso
- 1974 Giuseppe Berto
- 1975 Susanna Agnelli
- 1976 Carlo Cassola
- 1977 Giorgio Saviane
- 1978 Alex Haley
- 1979 Massimo Grillandi
- 1980 Maurice Denuzière
- 1981 Sergio Zavoli
- 1982 Gary Jennings
- 1983 Renato Barneschi
- 1984 Luciano De Crescenzo
- 1985 Giulio Andreotti
- 1986 Pasquale Festa Campanile
- 1987 Enzo Biagi
- 1988 Cesare Marchi
- 1989 Umberto Eco
- 1990 Vittorio Sgarbi
- 1991 Antonio Spinosa
- 1992 Alberto Bevilacqua
- 1993 Carmen Covito
- 1994 John Grisham
- 1995 Jostein Gaarder
- 1996 Stefano Zecchi
- 1997 Giampaolo Pansa
- 1998 Paco Ignacio Taibo
- 1999 Ken Follett
- 2000 Michael Connelly
- 2001 Andrea Camilleri
- 2002 Federico Audisio
- 2003 Alessandra Appiano
- 2004 Bruno Vespa
- 2005 Gianrico Carofiglio
- 2006 Andrea Vitali
- 2007 Frank Schätzing
- 2008 Valerio Massimo Manfredi
- 2009 Donato Carrisi
- 2010 Elizabeth Strout
- 2011 Mauro Corona
- 2012 Marcello Simoni
- 2013 Anna Premoli
- 2014 Michela Marzano
- 2015 Sara Rattaro
- 2016 Margherita Oggero
- 2017 Matteo Strukul
- 2018 Dolores Redondo
- 2019 Alessia Gazzola