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 The Province of Modena ( it, Provincia di Modena) is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Modena. It has an area of and a total population of about 701,000 (2015). There are 48 ''comuni'' (singular: ''co ...

and, after getting a degree in Classical Arts at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continu ...

, he became an archaeologist at the

Catholic University of Milan The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, specialising in the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

of the Ancient World. 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 Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ign ...

, the

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sor ...

in Paris and the

Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and comput ...

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. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, he has undertaken the "Anabasis" expeditions for the reconstruction of the itinerary of the

Ten Thousand The Ten Thousand ( grc, οἱ Μύριοι, ''oi Myrioi'') were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Bat ...

'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 Lavinium was a port city of Latium, to the south of Rome, midway between the Tiber river at Ostia and Antium. The coastline then, as now, was a long strip of beach. Lavinium was on a hill at the southernmost edge of the ''Silva Laurentina'', a ...

, Forum Gallorum and Forte Urbano in Italy,

Túcume Túcume is a pre-Hispanic site in Peru, south of the La Leche River on a plain around La Raya Mountain. It covers an area of over and encompassing 26 major pyramids and mounds.Shimada, Izumi. "The Late Prehispanic Coastal States." In The Inca ...

(Peru),

Har Karkom Har Karkom ( "Mountain of Saffron", also called Jabal Ideid) is a mountain in the southwest Negev desert in Israel, half way between Petra and Kadesh Barnea. On the basis that the Israelites travelled across the Sinai peninsula towards Petra in ...

and other overseas locations. He has also held a series of conferences and seminars at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

, National

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is within walking distance of Westfield Belconnen, and from Canberra's Civic Centre. U ...

, Universidad de Antiochia, Universidad de Bilbao, Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo in Tenerife and many others. 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"). His novel ''The Last Legion'' was the basis for

the movie "The Movie" is the 54th episode of the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. It is the 14th episode of the fourth season, and first aired on January 6, 1993 on NBC. The episode revolves entirely around the characters' struggles to go to see a movie together. P ...

of the same title, released in 2007 and starring Colin Firth,

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

and others; his ''Alexander Trilogy'' has been bought by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

for yet another cinematic rendition of the story of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

. 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 , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, after suffering a domestic incident caused by an accidental gas leak. They were hospitalized in

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the ...

; their conditions were described as critical.
Lo scrittore Valerio Massimo Manfredi trovato esanime in casa a Roma: è grave
/ref> They were later released.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Palladion'' (1985) *''

Spartan Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta refe ...

'' (''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 ''Child of a Dream'' (original title: ''Il figlio del sogno'') is the first part of Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander trilogy, released in 1998. It narrates the childhood of Alexander the Great, son of King Philip II of Macedon and queen Oly ...

'' (''Il figlio del sogno'') **''

The Sands of Ammon ''The Sands of Ammon'' (original title: ''Le Sabbie di Amon'') is the second part of Valerio Massimo Manfredi's Alexander trilogy, following on from '' Child of a Dream''. Continuing the epic story of Alexander the Great, ''The Sands of Ammon'' n ...

'' (''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) *''Teutoburg'' (''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 ''Tower of the Firstborn'' ( it, I Guardiani del Cielo) is a 2000 Italian-French adventure television film directed by Alberto Negrin and starring Ben Cross, Peter Weller, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Marco Bonini, Ione Skye and Heino Ferch. It wa ...

'' (''I Guardiani del Cielo'') *2007 – ''

The Last Legion ''The Last Legion'' is a 2007 historical action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya ...

Screenplays

*2006 – ''

The Inquiry The Inquiry was a study group established in September 1917 by Woodrow Wilson to prepare materials for the peace negotiations following World War I. The group, composed of around 150 academics, was directed by the presidential adviser Edward Hou ...

'' (''L'Inchiesta'') *2009 – ''

Memoirs of Hadrian ''Memoirs of Hadrian'' (french: link=no, Mémoires d'Hadrien) is a novel by the Belgian-born French writer Marguerite Yourcenar about the life and death of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. First published in France in French in 1951 as ''Mémoires d ...

Actor

*2001 – '' Vajont – La Diga del Disonore''

References

External links

*
Valerio Massimo Manfredi
on ''Fantastic Fiction'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Manfredi, Valerio Massimo 1943 births Living people People from Castelfranco Emilia Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore faculty Bocconi University faculty Italian historical novelists Italian archaeologists 20th-century Italian novelists 20th-century Italian male writers 21st-century Italian novelists Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Bancarella Prize winners Italian male novelists 20th-century archaeologists 21st-century Italian male writers