Fabio Isman, born in Monza to a family from Trieste, he lives in Rome. He has been a journalist for
Il Messaggero for 40 years and has worked for the Piccolo and the Gazzettino as well. In Italy and abroad, he has covered the “Six Day War” (1967) and the war in Lebanon (1982); the death of Mitterrand and the election of Chirac; the murder of Rabin; the voyages of Pertini, Cossiga and Scalfaro, the ascension of eight italian governments and two Popes; the trials of Piazza Fontana, the Lockheed scandal, the Ardeatine massacre and the “Mani Pulite” political corruption scandal of the 1990s.
Since 1980, he has been dedicated to writing about culture. He has published 32 books, on subjects ranging from restoration to conservation. He is a contributor to the Giornale dell’Arte, The Art Newspaper, Art e Dossier, Bell’Italia. Through Skira, he published I Predatori dell’Arte Perduta, il Saccheggio dell’Archeologia in Italia (Predators of Lost Art, the Archeological Plunder of Italy, 2009), the only published study on the “Grande Razzia” (The Great Plunder) and illegal excavations, since 1970, of a million archeological finds in the country, many of which are found in noteworthy museums abroad.