Writer, before arriving in the world of literature in the Eighties, he carried out numerous jobs including that of teacher in the La Spezia district prison. In 1989 he published his first novel, with an autobiographical background. With Il Coraggio del pettirosso (1995) he won the Viareggio Prize and the Campiello Prize; with La Regina disadorna (1998) he won the Alassio Prize and in 1999 the Stresa Prize for fiction and the Chianti Literary Prize. In 2005 he won the Ernest Hemingway and Parco della Maiella prizes and the Strega Prize with his novel The Night Traveler (Il viaggiatore notturno).
In addition to his activity as a writer, he collaborates with some newspapers: he edits a column for the newspaper Il secolo XIX and writes for La Stampa.