Mario Soldati

Italian writer and filmmaker who won the 1954 Strega Prize (Italy's most prestigious literary award) for Lettere da Capri. A novelist, short-story writer, journalist and screenwriter, he made a try at acting but found his place in films as a Scenarist and Assistant Director, moving into full-time film directing after 1939. During his 29 year stint as a director, Soldati directed nearly 30 films, including La Provinciale (1953).

Soldati was a graduate of the University of Turin and came to the USA in the late '20s to teach at the Columbia University while doubling as a correspondent for a Genoa newspaper. Returning to Italy, he began his literary career. He married twice. He died on 19 June 1999 in Rome of natural causes, aged 92.